Class 

Book ■ 1 



\ 



/ 

J- 



THE SWITZERS. 



MR. DIXON'S WORKS. 



THE HOLY LAND, 
ii. 

NEW AMERICA. 

hi. 

FREE RUSSIA. 

IV. 

SPIRITUAL WIVES, 
v. 

HER MAJESTY'S TOWER. 



Library Editions of Mr. Dixon's Historical Memoirs 

JOHN HOWARD, called The Philanthropist, 
WILLIAM PENN, Founder of Pennsylvania 

are in the Press, and ivill shortly appear. 



THE SWITZERS. 



BY 

WILLIAM HEPWORTH DIXON. 




LONDON : 

HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 

18 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 

1872. 

All Rights reserved. 



3 



LONDON: 
Straxgewats and Walden, Printers 
Castle St. Leicester Sq. 



TO 

THE ET. HON. W. E. FORSTER, M.P., 

THIS PICTURE OF 

A FREE PEOPLE 

IS 

INSCRIBED, 



PREFACE. 



' In from Vevey ? ' hails an English voice at Neuf- 
chatel, where trains from Vevey and Lausanne 
meet trains from Bern and Zurich on their way 
to Paris. 

'Yes; and you — from Bern?' replies a New- 
York voice. 

' From Bern. You had a good time V 

' Yes ; it rained Niagara ; but the lakes are 
lovely and the mountains absolutely grand.' 

' Saw anything of the Switzers V 

■ Eh ? You mean the boys who lead your 
mules, and cook your meals, and tie you up in 
ropes 1 Not much. Somehow, you hardly notice 
them. Why not ? Well, now you ask me why — 



Vlll PREFACE. 

I think it is because they are so quiet, and get 
on with what they have to do so well.' 

c These people, when you come to know them, 
are as much worth study as their alps and lakes.' 

' Indeed ! Then tell us all about them.' 

6 St James's Terrace, 

New Year's Day, 1872. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE 

I. MOUNTAIN MEN 1 

II. ST. GOTHARD . . . . • 10 

III. PEOPLING THE ALPS . . . • 18 

IV. THE FIGHT FOR LIFE . . . 29 
V. RAIN AND ROCKS ..... 40 

VI. TEUTON AND CELT 52 

VII. THE COMMUNES 62 

VIII. COMMUNAL AUTHORITIES .... 71 

IX. COMMUNAL GOVERNMENT ... 79 

X. CANTONS AND HALF- CANTONS ... 86 

XI. CANTONAL RULE 99 

XII. CANTON ZURICH 109 

XIII. PURE DEMOCRACY 119 

XIV. A REVOLUTION 130 

XV. POPULAR VICTORIES . . . .140 

XVI. THE LEAGUE . . . . . .150 

XVII. THE FEDERAL PACT . . . .159 

XVIII. JESUITS 169 

XIX. PILGRIMAGE 181 

a2 



A. 


v^Ul> ± XLiIN Ii3. 






CHAP. 
XX. 


CONVENT AND CANTON 




PAGE 

192 


XXI. 


st. meinrad's CELL 




203 


XXII. 


FEAST OF THE ROSARY 




214 


XXIII. 


LAST OF THE EENEDICTINES 




226 


XXIV. 


CONFLICT OF THE CHURCHES 




237 


XXV. 


SCHOOL ..... 




247 


XXVI. 


DEMOCRACY AT SCHOOL 




254 


XXVII. 


GENEVA .... 




262 


XXVIII. 


SCHEME OF WORK . 




274 


XXIX. 


SECONDARY SCHOOLS 




285 


XXX. 


SCHOOL AND CAMP . 




296 


XXXI. 


DEFENCE .... 




306 


XXXII. 


THE PUBLIC FORCE 




317 


XXXIII. 


IN THE FIELD. 




327 


XXXIV. 


OUT AGAIN .... 




340 


XXXV. 


A CROWNING SERVICE 




349 



THE SWITZERS. 



CHAPTER I. 

* MOUNTAIN MEN. 

' We are a folk apart, we mountain men,' a Switzer 
says — a Switzer who has seen the world, and 
learnt in many lands to know the ways of man 
and nature — as we watch the sun go down behind 
a screen of domes and peaks. 'What say you, 
Sister Agnes ; are we not a folk apart ? ' 

A Nun from Sion, in the Canton Valais, with 
a ruddy cheek and pair of southern eyes, this 
Sister Agnes is a pilgrim of the season, on her way 
to Meinrad s Cell, the famous chapel of Our Lady 
of the Anchorites in Canton Schwyz. She is the 
chance companion of a day. We found her sitting 
at a wayside cross ; we took her up, for she was 
sore of foot and slight of frame. While we were 

B 



2 THE SWITZERS. 

dining at an inn, she wandered to the ice-eaves, 
lost her way, and fell. At length we found her, 
weak with pain, and brought her to this moun- 
tain-pass. 

An Engineer from Bern, a man of thirty-five, 
with bearded chin, broad brow, and pair of cold 
blue eyes, the Switzer is on public duty in 
these mountains ; armed with rule and chain, with 
drill and mallet ; to interrogate these crests, to 
tap these rocks, to span each beck and fall, to note 
each curve of alp, and try if science cannot find 
some means of saving the great wreck of life and 
land below, by guiding, and controlling at their 
sources, the St. Gothard floods. 

Fair types of South and North, of Celtic and 
Teutonic Switzerland, are these companions of the 
way ; the girl from Sion and the man from Bern ; 
one warm and feminine, with a drooping brow, 
and eyes that wait on nature and solicit saintly 
help ; the other strong and masculine, with head 
thrown back, and eyes that peer into the granite, 
and rely on man's own wit and strength. The girl, 
with rosary dangling from her girdle, is a servant 
of the Cross ; the man, with mallet hi his lifted . 
hand, a genuine son of Thor. 

Too busy with her thoughts to answer him, 



MOUNTAIN MEN. 3 

the Nun, her eyes bent steadily on the west — a 
sky all amber, blush and blue— runs nimbly 
through her beads, while words, inaudible to man, 
appear to part her lips in prayer. 

' Just note,' he adds, a touch of pity in his 
tone, 'how far we are a race apart. We have 
no kings, no subjects ; every man is free. We 
have no noble class, no pauper class, no standing 
army, no official church. We have no language of 
our own. We have no common code. We have 
no public debt. No man among us owns the best 
part of a canton, as a Russian prince the best part 
of a province, and an English duke the best part 
of a shire. Nine men in ten are owners of the 
soil they graze and plough.' 

( You are a race apart ! ' 

' The earth on which we build and plant is 
not a stretch of vineyards, orchards, cornfields, 
pastures, dropping towards the sea on every side, 
with hardly any break of waste. We dwell among 
the crags and clouds. Our flats are mostly water 
and our slopes are mostly ice. Your plains lie 
basking in the summer, while our heights are 
swept by storm. Your river-beds are loam ; our 
river-beds are grit. You dreamers by the water- 
side have but to wait on Nature, while we 



4 



THE SWITZERS. 



watchers by the mountain-side must take her 
gifts by force/ 

' It is by natural law that mountains make 
the mountain men ? ' 

' How else ? Man acts on Nature in his way, 
as Nature acts on man in her way, till the two 
great spirits of the earth grow like each other, 
even as a man and wife who live in peace grow 
like each other year by year. Among the vines 
and olives in Italian gardens men are soft, poetic, 
phosphorescent ; no less full of fire than they 
are fond of change. Among the pines and larches 
of Valaisian glaciers men are hardy, patient, 
dumb ; as slow to fume and flash as they are 
hard to bend and break.' 

' Yea, some are hard to bend and break ! ' 
sighs Sister Agnes, who has told her beads, and 
now sits looking into space. 

' As men in plains take up a drift and ply/ the 
Engineer goes on, ' so men on mountain-tops take 
up a drift and ply. Our drift is to be silent, sleep- 
less, prompt ; for we lie down with danger at 
our doors, and we must rise to meet it when the 
moment comes. At dusk you see a cottage on a 
shelf of rock ; a hut in which the shepherd churns 
his milk ; a bit of soil in which he grows his 



MOUNTAIN MEN. 



5 



herbs ; a patch of grass on which his heifers 
browse ; a simple cross at which his urchins 
pray. At dead of night a tremor passes 
through the mountain side ; a slip of earth takes 
place ; a cry which no one hears rings up to 
heaven. At dawn there is a lonely shelf of rock 
above, a desolate wreck of human hopes below/ 

' We strive too much/ again sighs Sister 
Agnes, bending to his tale : ' we fight for earthly 
things when we should give our minds to heavenly 
things. What are we doing in this Year of 
Pilgrimage ? Preparing to bore holes through 
living rocks, and ride to Rome in railway trains, 
when he who is the father of all Christian men 
is held a prisoner in his house by disobedient 
sons !' 

' You folk who live in flats and hollows,' says 
the man of science, glancing at the Nun with 
curious smile, ' build towns, in which you dally 
with the graceful arts; while we, who cling like 
limpets to our rocks, raise chalets far and wide, 
from which we tend our flocks, in which we find a 
shelter from the fiery clouds. You have the fig, 
the citron, and the vine ; we have a treeless waste, 
with long, coarse grass, and mosses which the goat 
and chamois dare not crop. Dame Nature nurses 



6 THE SWITZERS. 

us to different ends. To you is given the genius 
to construct the marble fane, the royal castle, and 
the fretful town ; to us, the timber chapel, the in- 
dustrious household, and the lowly thorpe/ 

' A little lowliness of heart would do us good, 5 
exclaims the Nun — the golden sunset on her face 
— ' if we could only learn to know our place, and 
give to Heaven the things of Heaven ! ' 

A smile that seems to say — if ever smile has 
meaning — ' I should like to kiss that nonsense 
from your lips,' plays round his delicate mouth 
and sparkles in his cold blue eyes. A moment 
afterwards he adds : 

' In every zone, so far as I have seen, the 
mountain races are a free, a pastoral, an un- 
changing people. Men who come from cities find 
us rough, and fancy we are dull. All mountain 
races love the past ; suspect new words, new 
things, new men ; and harden like the hills in 
which their lives are spent. Their fundamental 
laws are few and slowly formed ; as slowly formed 
as they are stoutly held. A hill-tribe stands upon 
their ancient ways/ 

( God and His angels are the same for evermore/ 
responds the Nun. 

( Turn where you list, and take the lesser with 



MOUNTAIN MEN. 



7 



the greater heights ; the crests of Snowdon and 
Ben Nevis, through the Pyrenees to Monte Negro 
and the Julian Alps ; in every zone you find 
this rule — the mountain -people stand aloof from 
what is new and strange, while those who live on 
plains and by the sea, are apt to change their laws 
and creeds from year to year. The hill-tribes of 
Judea kept their covenant, while the tribes of 
Jordan and Esdraelon fell away. Those Medes 
who never changed a law, descended from the 
Caspian alps ; those Greeks who sought new 
things from day to day, were dwellers by the 
iEgean sea/ 

' You think the sea has much to do with man's 
desire for change V 

' It is the cause. A man who looks on water 
grows like water, and a man who looks on alps 
grows like an alp/ 

'Yet, tell me, is it not the rule that alpine 
tops are barren of great men 1 ' 

' It is so. Let the worst be said that can 
be said in truth. No prophet ever comes from 
mountain-top ; no poet, thinker, warrior of the 
foremost order, comes from mountain-top. All gifts 
of hand and tongue, all services of art and science, 
are in less demand with us than in the streets 



8 



THE SWITZERS. 



of busy towns, where every one is seeking after 
something new, and chiefly for his personal good. 
We know it ; nay, we make it so/ 

' You do not want great men in your republic ? ' 

' No ; we want good men, not great men. In 
our system, what you call great men can have no 
part ; they would disturb us, perhaps destroy us. 
A republic is a league of equals, not a com- 
pany of general officers and men-at-arms. A great 
man is a monarch. If a Caesar should arise among 
us, we might have to kill him. In his craft, each 
man among you strives to be the first, and you 
applaud his efforts, even when they fail. You 
like a man to be a duke. Your maxim is, be 
first in your own class. Such maxims are not 
ours : we have no ducal spirit in these alps. 
We are a band of brothers, but without an eldest 
born. Our rule is — All for each, and each for all 
— the oath of Grutli — our unwritten code. All 
teaching has with us this end in view, that no 
one shall grow up into a man till he has learnt 
to rank the public weal above his private gain/ 

£ We set the peace of earth above the grace of 
Heaven,' observes the Nun. 

'You train your youth,' the Bernese engineer 
proceeds, ' by contrast and contention ; we by 



MOUNTAIN MEN. 



9 



sympathy and mutual help. You urge each 
scholar to surpass his fellows ; we forbid all 
effort to disturb the line. You like to see one 
lad above his class, for you have put your trust 
in dukes and chiefs. We notice such a thing 
with pain, and try to make our boys regard each 
other in the school-room as their right and left 
hand files. Your method brings out special 
strength, and makes one giant to a hundred 
dwarfs. Again, you take but scanty notice of 
the weak ; you dote on strong majorities : and 
push your brethren who are weak in number, 
to the wall. You have the conqueror's spirit 
in your camp. You seek opinions which are 
strong, and clothe those strong opinions with the 
garb of public law. We have a tender feeling 
for the weak. We break the force of our pre- 
vailing wind by groynes, by dykes, and by 
dividing walls ; that is to say, by giving to 
each Canton and each Commune in our country- 
separate and substantial powers ; to every Canton 
equal votes, to every Commune local life. You 
see we are a folk apart ! ' 



10 



CHAPTER II 

ST. G O T H A R D. 

The sun is sinking on a cloud of summits as we 
pace the road which, winding up the Siedeln alp, 
and vaulting over by the Furka, weds the two 
great valleys of the Rhone and Reuss, and brings 
the Simplon pass into connexion with the Got- 
hard pass. 

A mist is rising in our front from horn and 
glacier, from the Grimsel ridges, from the Gelmer 
snow-fields, from the Handeck falls, a mist which 
swells the solar disk and turns the flame to fire. 
Athwart this thickening haze the light is flashing 
into lengths and streams, and the white clouds 
above these lengths of light are rolling into 
curves and crowns. The colours melt and deepen 
as we gaze. A moment since the tints were 
amber, rose, and blue ; but while we speak that 
amber burns to gold, that pink grows crimson, 
and that blue is purple, brown and black. Afar off, 



ST. GOTHAED. 



11 



in the Bernese Oberland, two pyramids of earth, 
— the Schreck-horn and the Finster Aar-horn, — 
part these ever- widening waves ; two dark and 
mighty cones, which tower above the highest 
wreaths of cloud. 

Our right is bounded by the Ehone glacier; 
a scarp of frozen ice ; here rough with shales 
of slate, there dark with drifts of dust. So near 
us lies this shining fall that we can peer into 
the rents and watch the play of green and rosy 
light within them. Down below, the surface 
of the glacier has been smoothed and rounded 
by the noon-day heat ; along our level it is 
jagged and broken by the midnight chill. A 
ravine passes to our left — a sombre ravine, which 
ascends the ridge on which the Muttbach feeds * 
and over this dark parting of the ridges rise 
the Mutt-horn, Shaf-berg, Tell Alp, Saas-horn; 
while beyond these peaks, and partly hidden 
from our sight, extend those granite walls which 
press the summer back upon Italian lakes. Below 
these masses, in the groove between the Mutt- 
horn and the Grimsel, flow the waters of the 
Rhone — here lost to sight among the rocks, 
there flooding out among the trees and fields — 
past Oberwald and Obergestelen, then through 



12 



THE SWITZERS. 



long green reaches, lit with roof and spire — sweet 
notes of life and home in the stern desert of 
an alpine night. Up north and west, above 
the Grimsel, spread the crests and gulfs to 
which no spring, no autumn, ever comes ; a realm 
where it is always either frost or fire ; where 
chain is laid on chain, and peak is piled on 
peak ; with domes and falls of ice, with sweeps 
and drifts of snow, and pinnacles of rock too 
sharp for either flying mist or driving rain to 
clutch. Beyond the Grimsel stretch the Gauli 
glacier, the lesser and the greater Grindelwald 
glaciers, the Kander glacier, the two Aar gla- 
ciers, the Lotschen glacier, the Miinster glacier, 
and the Aletsch glaciers, hanging on the sides 
and dripping at the feet of secondary alps ; while 
high above these seas of ice roll up vast fields 
of granulous snow, too high for sun to melt ; 
and over these white fields, the humps and teeth 
of Jungfrau, Wetter-horn, and Monsch, with yon 
twin pyramids of earth, the Schreck-horn and 
the Finster Aar-horn, which divide the flashing 
lines of light — as though they stood in arms, 
two mountain kings, to guard their brides and 
captives from a bold, crusading sun. 

Yet nobler than such wintry masses, and 



ST. GOTHAKD. 



13 



to larger use and purpose, swells the group of 
heights on which we stand — the crown of the 
St. Gothard chain, the central range of Europe, 
where her valleys run to meet each other, whence 
her rivers rise and flow to east and west, and 
over which the Frank and Teuton pass to 
Lombardy, while the Italian climbs towards 
Germany and France. 

This central group of the St. Gothard chain, 
Hke other mountain systems, has her trough, 
her platform, and her cardinal peak. 

Her trough is Urseren — the Uri valley — once 
an alpine lake, like that of Wallenstadt in form 
and size, but lying in a loftier bed. The lowest 
hamlet in this hollow stands four thousand and 
six hundred feet above the sea. A green but 
-treeless basin, into which the snow comes down 
with the September chills, and nestles in the 
clefts and gullies till the latest day of June, 
this trough is watered by the Reuss, a stream 
which, rising near the Furka, brawls past Be Alp, 
Hospenthal, and Andermatt, until it issues from 
the trough near Teufelstein. Some firs creep 
meekly up St. Ann's — an alp round which the 
last few flights of the St. Gothard road wind 
up — but they are dwarfed in size and thinned 



14 THE SWTTZERS. 

in mass by the exceeding cold. Some herdsmen, 
guides, and muleteers, who live by aiding people 
on their way, have built in Urseren the thorpes 
in which a passenger finds food and fire. 

filer platform is not sharply marked by 
nature ; for the ridges flow into each other, 
and the ravines break these ridges here and 
there — as at St. Gothard, Six Madun, the 
Devil's Bridge, and Langis Grat ; but still, 
an oval, somewhat roughly drawn, with Re 
Alp for a central point, would sweep the 
edges of this platform. Draw a line from Rhone- 
stock by the Gersten-horn, across the valley of 
the Rhone to Saas-horn and Lucendro, round 
the Lago Sella to Six Madun, and thence to Toma, 
Aldez, Siiisen, Teufelstein, and by the Batzberg 
and the Spitzberg, through the Winter glacier 
to the Rhone-stock. In this oval, seven miles 
wide and fourteen long, are crowded peak, and 
source, and pass. The Rhone wells out below 
the Galen-stock ; the Rhine flows downward from 
the Toma lake ; the Reuss goes rattling past 
the Siedeln Alp ; the Toccia starts beneath 
the Saas-horn ; the Ticino drops from Lago 
Sella. All the greater lakes are fed from this 
one crown of earth ; Lake Constanz from the 



ST. GOTHARD. 



15 



Six Madun ; Lake Leman from the Galen-stock • 
Lago Maggiore from the Sasso di Gottardo. 
(Three drops of rain, delivered from one drifting 
cloud, might fall into the Rhone,^ the Toccia, 
and the Rhine, and after filtering through 
Lake Leman, Lago Maggiore, and Lake Constanz, 
might run forward on their several ways into 
the sea, past Avignon, Cremona, and Cologne. 

Her cardinal peak is Galen-stock — the peak 
now towering on our right — a fount of light and 
beauty in this sombre realm, which ancient shep- 
herds, coming up the valleys of the Rhone and 
Reuss in search of fortune, called the Pillar of 
the Sun. He is the Saul of the St. Gothard 
group — above the tallest of his brethren : Gersten- 
horn, Lucendro, Mutt-horn, Spitz-berg, Six Ma- 
dun — though all these mountains are of Anak 
breed. Three glaciers hang about his hoary 
neck and shiver down his sturdy sides ; the 
Tiefen glacier on his northern flank, the Siedeln 
glacier on his southern flank, and the Rhone glacier 
(which has many feeders) on his western flank. 
These glaciers drip by different ravines, and de- 
scend to different seas. Ab ove his summit floats 
a canopy of cloud, from under which at times 
leap fire, and wind, and hail, those rival demons of 



16 



THE SWITZEKS. 



this upper air, which shake and daze the earth 
in their plutonic and magnetic strife. About his 
feet, low down among the ruts and wrecks of ice, 
lie caves of wondrous beauty and uncounted 
wealth. Three years ago a cave was entered by 
this Tiefen glacier, when the noblest crystals in 
the world were found. The rock was topaz. 
Fragments lay about in heaps, each broken piece 
a hundred pounds, two hundred pounds, in 
weight. Some fifteen tons of topaz were removed 
from this great hiding-place of nature in a single 
year. What sage can count the marvels yet in 
lurking near this pillar of the Sun ? 

There — spent at last — the fiery orb is gone ! 
domes of cloud are rising round his couch. 
A faint green tinge still charms the upper sky, 
and specks of silver touch the highest peaks ; but 
all the ravines at our feet are veiled, and all the 
secondary alps are lost to sight. At such a time 
one feels how poets in the guise of shepherds, 
with an eye on straying goat and heifer, learned 
to call this central point of their converging 
tracks the pillar of the Sun. This peak is still a 
coronet of fire. 

Far down, hi either of the valleys in our front 
and rear, as far as Biel in front, as far as Ander- 



ST. GOTHARD. 



17 



matt in rear, the herdsmen raise their eyes at 
sunset and at sunrise towards this signal in the 
clouds, the first to catch, and last to hold, that 
radiance which is light and life to man. At Biel 
you see the villagers come out, long after sunset 
in their narrow trench, to watch the glowing 
tints die off this point, and augur from the depth 
of gold the fortunes of another day. At Ander- 
matt the rustics turn to it at dawn, while yet 
the roadway up the Ober Alp, the ruined tower 
of Hospenthal, the fringe of forest on St. Ann s, 
are buried in profoundest gloom. Above Re Alp 
and Bulen-stock there is a flash, a star, a comet, 
which expands and colours to a pinnacle of 
flame. It is the pillar of the Sun, the central 
peak of the St. Gothard group. 



c 



1<L 



18 



CHAPTER III. 

PEOPLING THE ALPS. 

e We mount and mount/ the Bernese adds as 
we return into the chalet, numb with cold, 
but deep in the great question as to how these 
alps are crossed and kept ; ' we rise each year, 
and soon the summits will be crowned/ 
Excelsior ! 

A man who finds a pass and plants his 
foot upon a peak, secures that pass and peak. 
A second follows where he led ; his trail is 
worn into a track. Then guides and porters 
come to ply their trade. A shed is built, 
a cross set up ; in time that shed becomes 
an inn, that cross becomes a spire. A deed 
once done is easy to repeat. It is the first 
step only that is hard to face. When Whymper 
scaled the Matter-horn, and fortune took four 
lives as fine, all Europe shuddered at the tragic 
tale ; and he who came down victor from the 



PEOPLING THE ALPS. 



19 



rocks, would never front that task again. Yet 
he had shown the way, and three days after 
his ascent, and while the bodies of the dead 
were still unfound, four guides went up and 
gained the perilous cone. Next year carne two 
ascents, and in the one next after, five. Now 
boys and girls go up that cone in sport. A 
week ago, two English damsels clambered to the 
ledge from which poor Hudson fell. Already 
there are hints of future roads. One track is 
worn from Zermatt up the German front ; another 
from La Breil up the Italian front. Two-thirds 
of the way from Zermatt to the peak, a hut has 
been erected by the guides. You find there 
wood and wraps, with pans for warming food, 
and- shelter from the sudden storm. A few 
years more, and what is now a lonely hut will 
be a pleasant, populous inn. 

A man in search of food and fuel gains some 
ledge, and caps it with his hut and fence. The 
scrub is fired around him, and the tarns are 
drained of their abundant ooze. (As Nature owns 
her master, she retires before him step by step. 
The glacier drips and wastes, the snow-fields melt 
to mist, the larches creep beyond his axe, and plum 
and walnut flourish where those larches lately grew. 



20 



THE SWITZERS. 



Not long ago, you found the firs and larches at 
Sierre, in Canton Valais ; now vou have to seek 
for them at Brieg. A vine will sprout to-day 
where pines would hardly cling some years ago. 
At Pontresina corn is grown ; at Chiamut corn is 
also grown ; and yet the lower of these alpine 
hamlets stands as high above the sea as Cader 
Idris would be piled upon the head of Skiddaw. 

Two hundred years since Eigi was an un- 
known solitude. Old writers never name this 
mountain, though its beauty was the same in 
olden times as now ; from base to kulm a 
dream of scenic and botanic wealth ; with snowy 
ridge and slope above, with oleander, fig, and 
balsam near the water edge. At Yitznau, in the 
first week of October, when the Biirgen-stock 
and Ennet-horn are white with winter, grapes are 
hanging from the frames, and flowers and fruits 
are in Sicilian wealth and waste. On shelves 
of rock grow walnuts, and above them fir and 
larch. At Kaltbad there are ferns ; and over Kalt- 
bad sloping grassy alps ; and then a stretch of 
snow-field to the kulm, with its unrivalled view 
of mountain, lake, and plain. Yet all this beauty 
is for man a thing of yesterday. The first who 
mentions Bigi was a seeker after rare and lovely 



PEOPLING THE ALPS. 



21 



plants. He only wandered at her base and by 
the edges of her shining lakes. He left the Schei- 
deck and the kulm alone, as heights too poor for 
him to name. Some cattle, straying up the hill, 
drew shepherds after them, when huts were built 
for shelter, and a citizen of Arth, a hamlet on 
Lake Zug, erected for these lonely men the Chapel 
of Our Lady in the Snow. This chapel of Our 
Lady made the Bigi famous ; for miraculous cures 
were heard of far and wide ; and pilgrims came 
from Altdorf and Luzern to pray for health. A 
flight of thirteen stages — as on Carmel — led from 
Unteres Dachli to Our Lady's shrine ; at every 
stage a pilgrim knelt and prayed, and took in 
mountain air, and felt himself a better man. In 
time, the cloisters, and the hospice, and the chapel 
of St. Malchus, were erected on the Rigi slopes ; 
but years on years elapsed before a hut was built 
for travellers near the kulm. Not until 1848 had 
any one the courage to erect an inn. This inn 
was but a small affair, and yet the landlord's 
neighbours thought him mad. His house was 
much enlarged in 1856 ; and fifteen years later 
we are driving railway engines almost to the 
chapel of Our Lady in the Snow. 

' You mark/ observes the Engineer, ' how we 



22 



THE SWITZERS. 



are climbing up. No sooner is that railway engine 
up the Bigi than a plan is laid for throwing it 
across the ridge, and down the other face, to 
Goldau, with a branch to Arth. Five years ago 
the passage from Luzern to Meyringen was by 
a bridle-path across the Briinig ; now there is a 
mountain-road, with busy traffic, and a scatter 
of good houses to the highest woods. But we 
are not content with such a road. We mean to 
have a railway line across the Briinig pass, and 
perhaps a branch to that black lake in which, 
according to the legend, Pilate drowned himself. 
Already surveys have been made ; a year hence 
men will be at work with spade and pole ; and 
in a little while the iron horses will be tearing 
past Brienz and Unterseen for Thun. You know 
the Schynige Platte below the Faul-horn, with 
its famous glimpse of Lauterbrunnen and the 
Grindenwald. It is a level higher than the Bigi- 
kulm. Among my papers are the plans for a 
new railway to the summit of this Platte, and 
surveys for a branch line to the Faul-horn ! 
Three years hence that line will be at work/ 

' Ah me ! ? sighs Sister Agnes, shrinking from 
the Engineer, whom she is ready to regard as 
one possessed, ' we kick this dust about our 



PEOPLING THE ALPS. 



23 



feet and fancy we are taking heaven by storm ! 
More fit that we should fall upon our faces and 
confess our sins !' 

( You nurse the spirit of your pilgrimage/ I 
venture to remark. 

' Do not/ she says, with downcast eyes, ' be- 
lieve that all of us are mad with this vain pride 
of life. Some souls are found, even yet, who 
will not sell their birthright in the future hea- 
vens for such a mess of herbs. A short time 
hence will be our Festival of the Rosary. Come 
over into Canton Schwyz, and meet the pilgrims 
at Our Lady's Shrine/ 

: In no long time/ retorts the Engineer — as 
fervent in his science as the Sister in her faith — 
' our ridges will be pierced, our lakelets will be 
drained. At three great centres we are tapping 
through the granite walls ; the Spltigen, the 
Lukmanier, the St. Gothard ; in a dozen years 
the railway trains will roll from Hamburg and 
Vienna through these mountains on their way 
to Rome. Here runs the road from London to 
Brindisi, Cairo, and the Indian seas. A straight 
line drawn from London to Bologna passes 
through the hospice of St. Gothard, and a bee 
line is the pathway for an iron horse. Already 



24 



THE SWITZERS. 



we are turning to our lakes in search of land. 
Before the Dutch drew Haarlem, we had drained 
the floods from Linth and Giswyl, and had won 
five hundred acres from the lake of Lungern. We 
have a scheme for lowering the too high levels of 
the Jura lakes, arresting inundations of the Aar, 
and bringing the vast marsh of Seeland under 
spade and plough. Five million francs are voted 
for this purpose by the League. But local jealousies 
step in. Each Canton and each Commune has 
some petty cause to serve ; but some dark night 
a flood will drown them into reason, and a 
hundred thousand acres will be gained. Our 
lakes should yield a million acres. Leman might 
be lowered one-third. Such lakes as Sarnen, 
Sempach, Lowertz, Greifen, may be drained away/ 

6 Your science figures out the work of ages.' 

' Pardon me, of years. Why, men now living 
knew a time when there was not one road for 
wheels across these alps. It is not easy even yet to 
keep an open road upon the Furka, which is higher 
than the Gemmi and St. Gothard passes ; for 
the snow lies deep about this chalet till the 
end of June. Some seasons it is later : in the 
middle of July this year the depth was twenty 
feet. These sheds, from which the shales are 



PEOPLING THE ALPS. 



25 



carried once a- week, are but of yesterday. Not 
long since you could walk from Oberwald, in the 
Bhone valley, to Re Alp in the Reuss valley, and 
scarcely find a shelter from the storm. A dismal 
hut stood near the glacier — now it is a good hotel 
— but not a second house was to be seen. The 
refuge near the Tiefen glacier was not built, and 
now you have a road from Brieg to Chur, across 
the Furka and the Ober Alp, with an hotel at 
every turn/ 

' You put your engineer before the monk,' says 
Sister Agnes ; ' yet methinks the saints came up 
into these heights before the men of science found 
their way/ 

* My sister, you are right/ replies the Engineer ; 
' for Gothard was a saint, and Carlo Borromeo was 
a saint. ' 

The early monks were engineers, path-finders, 
inn-keepers, and guides. The hunters who came 
up erected huts of refuge, like the huts on 
Zermatt now — the hut of logs or stones, without 
a keeper, lending you a shelter from the sudden 
storm, the darkening night, and the bewildering 
snow, but nothing more — no fire, no food, no 
rest, no help. Some monk comes up, intent on 
flying from himself and from the world. He 



26 



THE SWITZEES. 



lights a fire, prepares a couch, and brings in 
stores of bread. The refuge is a hospice, and 
the keeper is a holy man. What then? Some 
helper in his kitchen, with an eye to gain, erects' 
a shed outside the walls, provides more dainty 
fare and lodging, and invites the passer-by to 
taste his food and test his beds. The hospice is 
an inn. We find these several stages on the 
summit of St. Gothard, where the refuge, hos- 
pice, and hotel stand side by side. Some refuges 
may pass at once into the stage of inns. Below 
the Tiefen glacier, stands a refuge, where you 
groom your horse and drink good Veltner wine. 
A man has come to live there who is not a saint, 
and in another season he may offer you a dinner 
and a bed. A few miles farther down you find 
a hospice at Re Alp, in which live Father Hugo 
and a troop of girls. That house is called a 
hospice : but in wine and waiting-maids you 
might mistake it for a merry country inn. 

' This Father Hugo/ laughs the Bernese, 
' is our Friar Tuck. Your fine old Capuchins are 
dying off ; their trade is passing into other 
hands. The dogs have had their day/ 

The Sister drops her head and tells her beads. 

At first this climbing up is hard, but men 



PEOPLING THE ALPS. 



27 



get used to what is hard, and when their spirits 
are in tune, the task is easier than it seemed 
at first. When Balmat clomb Mont Blanc the 
effort all but killed him. Every step he took 
was strange ; the unseen perils chilled his veins ; 
and when he came down, sore and scorched, he 
sank into his bed. The doctor roused him by a 
word. He, too, would scale the mountain. Bal- 
mat rose at once, drew on his boots, and faced 
the danger with a lightened heart. Next year 
De Saussure followed, with a village in his 
wake ; and after them came all the world, who 
filled the valley with their presence, up to Col 
de Balme. The Montanvert, the Flegere, and 
the Mer de Glace, grew famous. Sheds were 
raised, and guides were trained, to serve the 
climbers. Near the Montanvert one Blair, a 
Scotchman, built that hut, from which the poet 
Gothe looked upon the Sea of Ice. Not only 
Chamounix, but Sallanches, Servoz, and Argen- 
tine, feel the shock of a new life. Schools, 
churches, and hotels spring up. Each col and 
glacier has a separate inn. The Tete Noir is 
rounded ; the Hotel de Cascade is opened ; and 
the gorge of the Trient bridged. New tracks are 
opened up Mont Blanc, and a descent is found 



28 



THE SWITZERS. 



towards Italy. Young damsels clamber to the 
top, and now the feat is little but a jest and 
show. A frame of planks was taken to the 
Grands Mulets not eighteen years ago. It was 
supposed to be a feat ; and now there is a scatter 
of stone houses on the several roads ; one house 
on the Aiguille du Gouter ; two houses on the 
Grands Mulets ; inns at Pavilion, La Balma, 
Chapin, Mottet ; chalets at Ferret, Forclaz, and 
the All^e Blanche. 

'It is a fight for life/ the Bernese man of 
science cries ; e but men have won it, and will win 
it to the end. In no long time there will be inns 
at Grands Mulets, and in a hundred years the 
summit of Mont Blanc may be a town.' 



29 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE FIGHT FOR LIFE. 

This fight for life is not unfrequently conducted 
to the death. Man cannot climb so high, but 
some great charge of wrath seems hanging over 
him ; a beetling crag, a stream of stones, a 
cataract of ice, a moving field of snow ; and 
higher yet than these wild demons of the earth, 
those still more ruthless spirits of the air — the 
flash that rends his roof, the wind that strips 
his trees, the flood that drowns his land. 

Against each messenger of ill, a man must 
hold a separate watch — the avalanche, the light- 
ning, and the deluge ; and must learn to brave 
each danger when it comes, alike by flush of noon 
and in the dead of night. 

* When we have won a field from nature/ says 
the Engineer, ' we carefully entrench the ground, 
and try to hold what we have gained against her, 



30 THE SWITZERS. 

even though she hurls her avalanches on our 
heads/ 

c Your science tells you how to cope with 
avalanches ? ' 

' For the most part — yes. But in these moun- 
tains, men are so perverse ! By right no ava- 
lanche should ever fall on thorpe and field. If 
such an evil comes upon us, it is much our 
fault ; but people who believe in saints and not 
in science take no trouble to protect themselves 
against the sliding weight. They leave their 
safety to the saints, and winter takes them in 
her shroud of snow/ 

' They leave themselves defenceless by their 
want of thought in cutting down the pines V 

' The man who breaks his flail to boil his kettle 
is a sage compared to men like those of Selva, 
Cumiasca, and a hundred hamlets in these Celtic 
alps. These peasants burn the props that shore 
their house. In cutting down the pine-woods, 
they entreat the avalanche to crush them. Think 
of Selva — buried in the snow three several times — 
and every time by her own act and deed/ 

Midway from Ober Alp to Sedrun, in the Fore 
Rhine valley, lies this thorpe of Selva ; an Italian 
village, as the name implies ; a group of thirty 



THE FIGHT FOR LIFE. 



31 



houses, more or less ; a small white chapel nestling 
in the cliff; a scratch of green stuff growing in the 
flints ; a strip of pasture running by the stream ; 
and hanging overhead a fringe of firs. Above 
the village, towers the Milez Alp, sheer up into 
the air a thousand feet. This Milez is connected 
with the Crispalt, an enormous field of snow, 
from which the dry and granulous flakes roll 
down in streams. The village houses, built of 
logs, are strongly knit, and every shingle on the 
roof is weighted with a slice of rock. 

A crisp and lightsome people dwell in Selva ; 
rustics of Italian type, with ruddy flesh, dark hair, 
and tawny hands ; a folk who read no books, who 
see no papers, and who boast no arts, excepting 
how to feed their kine and press their cheese, to 
sing their village songs and dance at village feasts. 
You find in Selva — as in every other Commune — 
schools and books ; but these things are exotics in 
the land. The schools are poor, the books are 
lives of saints. The Pater has his office, and some 
patriot in a bigger hut may have a copy of Pro- 
fessor Condrau's journal, the Gazetta Romonscha. 
Condraus journal, printed in the neighbouring 
town of Dissentis, is dear to Celtic patriots T 
for the Professor sets himself to show that the 



32 



THE SWTTZERS. 



Teutonic Switzer is a sort of Kindli-fresser, who 
devours the children of his fellow Celts. No 
other books and papers trouble the repose of 
Selva ; for these southern people are not weighted 
with much care of life. They only want to eat 
and drink, to court and wed, to feel the love of 
wife and child, to hear that God is with them, 
and to sleep at last among their sires. Their ways 
are old-world ways. They never miss an office 
in their church. They speak that peasant Latin 
which was heard in the Campagna ere Augustus 
reigned in Rome. Their houses have a rustic 
reek, their thoroughfares a southern grime. Not 
only in their swarthy fronts and flashing eyes, 
but in their jewelled ears, both men and women 
have a menace and a memory of those ancient 
homes, from which they came into these alps as 
masters of the world. 

These men of Selva love their valley with a 
languid and abiding love. The strips of grass 
are scant ; the hauls of trout are rare ; the 
sheaves of grain are few. The valley is too 
narrow for much grass, the flood too rapid for 
much trout, the country-side too damp and lofty 
for much corn. For Selva, low as she may look 
if you peer down upon her from the Ober Alp, 



THE FIGHT FOR LIFE. 



33 



stands higher in the list of hills than Snowdon 
would be with Ben Nevis on her back. But 
still these Celtic rustics, with their ancient 
fairoing skill, contrive to coax from her ungrate- 
ful soil some golden sheaves. A patch of ground 
is chosen with a southern face ; a troop of 
youngsters pick it clear of stones ; a bank of 
scrub and logs is made to wall it up ; and when 
the seed is thrown into the soil, a groyne of slabs 
and stones is thrown along the higher rim, 
but slant-wise from the alpine scarp (as we in 
in England groyne the sea), to turn all floods of 
rain and rolling earth and stones aside. The 
shoots are never high, the ears are never full ; 
but when the air grows chill at noon they cut 
the stalks and tie them up on frames of wood 
to dry. Corn ripens fast when it is cut. 

A brisk and antique race, with Celtic fire and 
indolence, these rustics would be poor and merry 
on their lofty perch, were not the Milez alp 
and Crispalt horn above them, charged with 
seas of snow and ice. They live beneath these 
wintry ledges as their countrymen near Naples 
live beneath the fiery cones. A heavy fall of 
snow is doom. The shoulder of the alp gets 
overcharged; the lower edge gives way; the upper 



34 



THE SWITZEES. 



crest obeys the slide ; and then the great white 
Death comes down on roof-tree, chapel, field, and 
flock. 

'Why don't you quit the thorpe V you ask 
a peasant who has seen his hut destroyed three 
several times. 

f "We cannot quit the spot/ he says ; ' it is 
our home ; the land is ours ; where should we 
find another place ? ' 

' The world is wide, this valley of the Rhine 
is long. There must be other alps to graze.' 

' But none like Selva. Here we live in peace. 
We keep our laws and customs ; speak our 
native tongue, and have no fear of chop and 
change. If we go down to Trons we meet the 
Germans ; if we go to Ilanz we shall find the 
heretics. We stick to Selva while she sticks 
to us/ 

' But you have sometimes thought of changing 
quarters V 

' Only once ; and only part of us were minded 
to remove. I was a youngish man ; my lad, now 
driving yonder team, was in his crib ; but old men 
who could speak of things ere I was born, all 
said it was the biggest slide of snow yet seen 
at Selva. All our cottages were crushed. Our 



THE FIGHT FOR LIFE. 



35 



church was buried in the snow, and nearly all 
our goats and cows were swept into the Rhine. 
No lives were lost, for we had notice of the 
fall in time ; but everything except our lives 
was gone. When we could venture to the wreck, 
we stood upon a field of snow. We dug into 
the heap by chance, for no one knew exactly 
where his cottage lay. All marks had perished 
in that common grave. At last we found the 
church, and then we opened out our trenches 
right and left. It was a trying task ; for as 
we cut our lanes the sides fell in and blocked us 
up. But worse was yet in store for us. In spring 
the snow began to melt by day, and freeze again 
by night. The surface soon became one sheet 
of ice. Our hamlet was a glacier, with the drip 
and rot of ice above whatever of our house- 
hold stuff had not been crushed and spoiled. 
When we could count our loss, some restless 
people said we must remove from Selva, seek 
a home elsewhere, and leave our grounds as 
pastures. Nay, they sent to Chur and Bern, 
and begged for leave to go their ways. For 
once the Bernese folk were right ; they said we 
must remain at Selva, and the younger men were 
glad to find it so/ 



36 



THE SWITZERS. 



' Then you rebuilt your houses \ ' 
'Roughly, as you see; but still they serve. 
The wind gets through the slits and cracks, but 
peasants cannot live in palaces. We raised our 
little church. We planted on this alp yon hedge 
of pines, and put up prayers to Mary and the 
Saints. Since then we have been spared/ 

His tale is true, excepting as to why the 
peasants would not move, and how the planting 
of the Milez alp was done. So soon as news of 
that great avalanche came to Bern, an engineer 
was sent to see the ruins and report upon their 
cause. That cause was but too clear ; the rustics 
had been cutting down the pines, each woodman 
for himself, until the screen of forest was too 
weak to hold the weight of snow. The Federal 
Council put no veto on the plan for settling in 
another place ; the Council had no power to stop 
them if they wished to go ; but, like so many 
Communes in these Celtic alps, they came with 
cap in hand for money, and the Federal Council 
could not satisfy their greed. When they had 
brought this ruin on their fields, they asked the 
Government to turn then losses into gains. To 
go elsewhere they wanted such and such round 
sums. The Commune said it was too poor to 



THE FIGHT FOR LIFE. 



37 



move ; the Canton that it was too poor to help. 
An engineer, who came from Bern to look at 
the affair, reported that the Federal Council 
might contribute so and so. The Selvians 
would not take so small a gift ; they built 
their houses frailer than before ; and then the 
Federal Council planted this new pine-wood on 
the Milez alp. Since then the village has been 
safe ; and every Selvian thinks he owes that 
safety to his saints. 

Below us, in the Rhone valley, on the road 
from Oberwald to Ulrichen, stands the thorpe 
of Obergestelen, which has suffered more than 
Selva in the upper Rhine. The place has 
often been destroyed by snow - slides, storms 
of rain, and atmospheric fires. Two days ago 
a peasant pointed out to me a grave in which 
are laid the ashes of eighty-four persons, male 
and female, killed by one avalanche in a single 
night. Three years ago, this village was con- 
sumed by fire. It was a hot September after- 
noon ; Ithe men were on the mountains with 
their herds ; some women and the children 
only were at home. A sultry mist lay on the 
thorpe, from which a cloud of smoke was seen 



38 THE SWITZERS. 

f 

to rise. 1 The herdsmen hurried down the slopes^ 
but now a hot wind rose and drove the flames 
across the narrow streets. In two hours all 
was over. Out of sixty-eight houses and a 
hundred and twelve out-buildings only three were 
saved. The church was charred and rent ; the 
sheds in which the peasants dwelt were cinders ; 
and the village streets and gardens made a desert. 
Hardly any one had a roof-tree under which 
to lay his head. Some wandered wildly to and 
fro. One body went to TJlrichen, a second 
marched on Oberwald. These sought relief at 
Rekingen, and those at Goschinen and Minister. 
Others threw themselves among the ruins of 
their homes ; and two poor creatures sat them 
down in their dismay and died. 

Yet Obergestelen is rebuilt once more. And 
not as Selva is rebuilt — a little frailer than 
before. She is rebuilt of rock A man of science 
came to see the wreck ; his science told him 
that her only safety lay in stone ; and Ober- 
gestelen, now laid out in streets, with houses 
built of stone, is free in future from all fear 
of fire. 

* Teutonic/ nods the Engineer ; 1 Obergestelen 



THE FIGHT FOR LIFE. 39 



is Teutonic — Selva is Homonsch;' and having 
given this hint, he smiles, as though the last 
word on that subject has been said. 
' Ave Maria ! ' sighs the Nun. 



40 



CHAPTER V. 

RAIN AND BOCKS. 

A flood of rain may try men's natures on these 
heights more sternly than a slide of snow, and 
even than an atmospheric fire. An avalanche, 
a conflagration, overwhelms a single thorpe ; 
such floods of rain as drench these central alps 
may sweep a hundred miles of valley bare of 
house and tree. 

One night, three years ago, a few days after 
the great fire which lapped up Obergestelen, 
the gates of heaven were opened on this moun- 
tain ridge. It was a Sunday night. The day 
had been of sultry warmth, and all the summer 
had been strangely hot. No snow lay near the 
Furka. Slopes that commonly retain their white- 
ness through the year were brown and bare. 
The Siedeln glacier shrank behind the Furka 
horn ; the foot of the Rhone glacier was a shoal 
of earth and sand ; in all the lateral gulleys 



BAIN AND BOCKS. 41 

there were becks and falls ; and never, in the 
memory of men, had such a melting of the 
permanent ice been known. Not once, but 
many times, the Rhone had broken through 
her dykes. The Reuss, the Rhine, and the 
Ticino had been swollen, and dams constructed 
in these rivers had been loosened in a hundred 
joints. At length the clouds discharged their 
burden on the earth. 

f A flash — a roll of thunder — and the rain 
came pattering on the rocks. Descending from 
the Furka, from the Thierberg, from the Tiefen 
glacier, the waters leapt into the road at Re Alp, 
drowned the fields at Hospenthal, destroyed the 
roads and water - works at Andermatt, and, 
gathering fury as they roared past Teufelstein, 
smote the strong town of Amstag, where the 
Kastelen drops into the Reuss. A blow, the 
dyke gave way. The waters surged into the 
garden, sucked through walls, and washed out 
herbs and fruit-trees with the soil in which they 
grew. A house began to float. The inmates 
cried for help ; but night and storm were round 
them, with a roar of falling rain, of hurrying 
floods, of crashing forests, and of parting roofs ; 
and as the timbers strained the roof fell in. A 



42 



THE SWITZERS. 



second and a third house followed, and the 
beams, dashed downwards, added to the wreck. 
At Silinen the waste was wide and stern ; 
the town was all but washed away ; roads, 
bridges, farmsteads, gardens, all went madly down 
into the lake. This hamlet was the greatest 
sufferer from that fall of rain ; her loss being 
reckoned by the Federal engineers at a hundred 
and twenty thousand francs * but Erstfeld, lower 
down the stream, a poorer place, and one in 
which the land is tilled by peasant owners, had 
a deeper part in the despair. A hundred rustics 
lost their all that night. 

A dozen lateral valleys of the Reuss bring 
torrents to the lake — the Evi, Tief, and Schachen, 
for example, — all of which fell into and inflamed 
the flood. Near Attinghausen stronger dams 
were built. Few rivers in the world can match 
the Reuss in fall ; in thirty miles this river drops 
five thousand feet. A deluge, therefore, may be 
always coming ; and the river-banks at Atting- 
hausen, Altdorf, Seedorf, and Fliielen have been 
strongly dammed. On Sunday night the floods 
were stronger than these powerful works. A 
breach was made at Attinghausen in the dyke ; a 
second breach soon followed, and the waters ran 



EAIN AND ROCKS. 



43 



out screaming through the fields. At evening, ere 
the storm began, the lake was very low ; a long, 
hot summer having sucked it up to an unusual 
depth ; but when the daylight came the church- 
yard and the inns were all below the water lines. 

In Canton Uri only, five hundred persons lost 
a great part of their worldly wealth ; and even 
the Federal engineers computed that the cost of 
that one night of rain, in this short Uri valley, 
was about five hundred thousand francs. 

But cruel as the ravage was in Canton Uri, 
it was greater in the Valais and Graub linden. 
In Ticino it was worst of all. 

Val Blegno, in Ticino, is a mountain passage 
of peculiar beauty. Nestling in between the 
peaks and crests of Scopi and La Bianca, where 
the roads ure very steep, the cascades spring 
from ledge to ledge amidst a crowd of pretty 
modern chalets and the ruins of an ancient world. 
For here and there, among the vineyards and 
the chestnut - groves, you come upon some 
Romanesque tower. As usual with a Latin 
people every perch of ground belonging to the 
rustic has been turned to use as either garden, 
paddock, or plantation ; and as usual also with 
a Latin people every patch of wood belonging 



* 



44 



THE SWITZERS. 



to the Commune has been cut away. Few hollows 
iii this chain of alps can show more contrasts 
than the Blegno. Vines are grown on frames, 
and melons in the courtyards ; chestnut- trees and 
walnut-trees abound, the fruit of which the 
peasants roast and vend ; but high above the 
nooks in which these fruit-trees thrive, with 
garden, church, and house, is seen a mass of 
rock, a thousand feet in height, without a bush 
from base to crown, although the heights above 
are capped with meadows of unmelting snow. 

For many weeks before that Sunday night, 
while it was hot and dry at Chur and Brieg, 
much rain was falling in the Bleono, and the 
water-ways were greatly worn and torn. (^Then 
came the night, when shepherds who were sleep- 
ing in the mountains, say, that rain fell, not 
in showers but sheets, and that the solid earth 
was shaken by the weight. All valleys on the 
slopes of the St. Gothard were invaded by the 
floods. From seven to ten o'clock the storm 
increased in noise and fury. As the lightning 
flashed and thunder broke, enormous streams of 
water rolled down every rift and scoop. The Campo 
and the Compietto were two roaring torrents. 
Camha was a cataract. From Olivione to Bianca 



KAIN AND KOCKS. 



45 



nearly all the dams gave way ; the bed, so deep 
before, was raised by the accumulating sand and 
stones, till meadow lands which lay on either 
bank were swept. At Aquarosso, Dongio, and 
Polleggio, lands, and trees, and soil were carried 
off like so much dust. Whatever stood in front 
of that descending rush, as dykes, walls, bridges, 
houses, mills, and stables, fell into the stream. 
In many parts the waters left their usual beds 
and leapt by garden walls and private paths 
into the hamlets, filled the cowsheds and the 
dairies, underflowed the beams, and lifted the 
strong habitations off the earth. Enormous slabs 
of rock were hurled into the valleys, and an 
engineer from Zurich found one fragment of a 
thousand cubic feet. 

The feature of that fearful night in Blegno 
was descending slips of earth and rock. In 
Yal Soglia, all the tracks were covered by these 
falling masses. In Semiona and Malvaglia, 
several persons lost their lives. One hamlet, 
that of Cumiasca, was a tragic scene. Some 
fifteen houses occupied a grassy slope, from which 
the rustics had completely stript the pines. That 
Sunday night these rustics went to bed, as 
alpine rustics do, at sun-down ; but were soon 



46 



THE SWITZERS. 



awakened by the elemental war. They are not 
very brave, at best, these Cumiasca Celts ; and 
roused at dead of night, in utter darkness, in 
the midst of drenching rain, and with a roar of 
falling stones about their ears, they rushed into 
the open road, took counsel of each other's fears, 
and turned their faces to the mountain wall. 
Great blocks of stone were tumbling from the 
skies. Some fugitives were struck and killed. 
Some lost their senses, and returned to what had 
been their homes ; the rest roamed madly up and 
down the gorge all night. In all some twenty 
persons lost their lives. 

When morning came, the few who had sur- 
vived their fellows tried to find their houses. 
Not a shed was standing in its place. They 
looked upon the wreck, and thought it must be 
all a dream. How could a single night have 
stript them so ? A heap of earth and stones lay 
over what had yesterday been Cumiasca. Full a 
quarter of the villagers were dead, and nearly half 
of those who had not perished in the night were 
crazed. What could they do in face of such a 
trial ? Each one looked into his neighbour s face 
for hope, and found no comfort. In a body they 
sat down upon the earth and wept. 



RAIN AND ROCKS. 



47 



The engineers who came from Bern to help 
them, were astonished by their broken spirit, as a 
worse calamity than even the destruction of their 
homes. The men were patient in their misery ; 
supporting loss of food and fuel with a resignation 
truly southern ; but they could not front the 
facts and rise to overcome them at a bound. In 
turns they moped, and cursed, and cried. They 
threw themselves before their saints. They told 
the engineer they had no hope, and could not 
make an effort to begin the world afresh. Some 
houses, only partly covered by the rubbish, could 
be recognised ; but not a man in Cumiasca had 
the heart to clear them out. Yet men and 
women were gentle in their ways. No begging 
was perceived, and every one seemed pleased with 
what was given him from the common fund. 

It was the same elsewhere on the Italian side. 
The League came in with work, as well as money. 
All the roads were injured ; some of them were 
stopped. The people' of whole villages were called 
upon to clear these paths- — men, women, children 
— every one who could raise a pick and move a 
stone. The men were armed with spade and 
axe ; the women carried lengths of rope ; and 
while these men were levelling the road behind in 



48 



THE SWITZERS. 



single files, some thirty women moved in front of 
them and tugged the greater fragments to one 
side. The little ones were made to pick up 
stones, according to their strength. Soon every 
one was got to work once more, and with re- 
turning labour came the courage to confront their 
altered lot. 

( These trials/ says the man of Science, who 
was in Ticino in that day of trouble, £ are a legacy 
from those saints/ 

The Nun lifts up her eyes. 

' These fellows dream and dawdle when they 
ought to stand about their guns ; supposing, if they 
only shut their eyes and gape, that San Gennaro 
and San Carlo will protect their sheds and fields. 
They will cut down their woods, and will not dam 
their streams. We came one day into Polleggio, 
which had suffered from the floods. ..." 

' But not so much as she deserved/ cries Sister 
Agnes, with a flush of Celtic fire in her moist eyes. 
£ Of all the sins in this bad Canton of Ticioo, that 
of Polleggio is the worst. Some hamlets only 
drive away one priest ; Polleggio drives away from 
her a school of priests. You say the saints have 
sent these chastisements of storm and rain. You 
may be right, though in a better sense ; for Hea- 



RAIN AND ROCKS. 



49 



vert, though it may suffer long, must overtake the 
guilty ones at last/ 

' Your Church affairs are not my study/ says 
the Engineer; 'but still one knows that in the 
general rising of Ticino, not against their bishop 
only, but against the Holy See as his abettor, 
these rustics of Polleggio have not borne a leading 
part. The seminary for priests, established in their 
neighbourhood, was closed by public acts/ 

f It is the same to God/ exclaims the Nun. 

c Are you aware/ the man of Science turns to 
me and asks, ' how much this folly of the rustic 
Communes costs the League ? A hundred thou- 
sand francs a-year for cones and shoots. Last year 
we voted fifty thousand from a special fund. These 
francs are spent in planting trees ; and from my 
studies of the forests I can say the money is not 
much. Ten million francs are needed to restore 
the forests on these central alps alone ; six 
millions more should be expended on the minor 
alps. Nor is the money all our charge. These 
Communes draw upon our time, our patience, and 
our science. If we left these Celtic clowns to 
chop and burn another twenty years, our hills 
would be as bare as those of Greece/ 

' Can you prevent this waste by Federal law V 

E 



50 



THE SWITZERS. 



' Not yet : in six months we shall have the 
power. Such woods are Communal woods. A 
Commune is a small republic, with indefinite 
rights ; and as the Cantons shrink from trench- 
ing on the Communal ground, Bern only can pro- 
vide a cure. Already we have made one step. In 
granting aid to sufferers from the recent floods we 
bound the villagers to whom we paid our money 
to replant their woods. Our next step is to strip 
them of their power to fell and burn. Such people 
are not fit for freedom. To be free, a man must 
first be master of himself ; and these poor things 
would burn a larch to roast a pan of nuts. All 
mountain forests will be brought within the scope 
of Federal law. These rustics must be startled 
from their sleep. An officer from Bern will soon 
be at their doors, to let them know that if they 
choose to roast their nuts with pine and larch they 
must not drown the lands of people in the vales. 
We shall protect these folks against their saints/ 

'Adieu!' says Sister Agnes, rising from her 
bench, her cheek aghast with fear and rage. 

c Adieu ! ' the Bernese laughs, with his cold, 
careful eyes upon her, and the mallet in his 
upraised hand, as though in such a cause he was 
prepared to smite the rock of Rome. 



RAIN AND HOCKS. 



51 



' Adieu V I add, ' but we shall meet again.' 

f At Meinrad's Cell in Canton Schwyz V 

' Yes ; at the Festival of the Rosary. Adieu ! 

I shall be there, and count the pilgrims at Our 

Lady's shrine.' 



52 



CHAPTER VI. 

TEUTON AND CELT. 

' A Teuton finds his Celtic neighbour hard to 
take V 

'It is so/ says the Bernese ; 4 but we know 
our man, and how to deal with him. It is a 
kind of game. You have to use him well — a 
little more in word than fact — and then to wait 
his mood, with now and then a hint, thrown out 
as though it were by chance, that he is weak 
while you are strong, that he is naked and 
adoze while you are armed and on the watch. 
He has his noble flights, our Celtic friend ; and, 
like poor Sister Agnes, he can fling himself 
away. We must indulge him, for we want an 
outpost at our enemy's lines. Two Celtic nations, 
France and Italy, are the foes we dread ; and it 
is well for us to have a sweep of country in our 
front, from Basel to Lugano, occupied by Celts. 
But how are we to keep these borders free ? In 



TEUTON AND CELT. 



53 



one of two ways only : we may keep them by 
the strong hand, we may keep them by the just 
hand. We have tried both systems, and have 
found the cost of justice less than that of force. 
Not long ago Teutonic Switzerland was lord of 
all the rest. Bern ruled in Canton Vaud ; 
Geneva was her vassal. Upper Valais, peopled 
by the Teuton, ruled in Lower Valais, peopled 
by the Celt. Val Leventina and the circles of 
Lugano and Bellinzona were but conquered pro- 
vinces of the League. Neufchatel found her 
centre of political life in Bern. But in revenge 
of nature, we, the old free citizens of Bern, 
became the vassals of some noble houses, which 
had gained hereditary power as officers and 
satraps in our subject states. What should we 
gain by putting out our strength once more ? 
Our Celtic brethren would protest. Suppose 
we answer that the law is with majorities ? 
They fly to arms ; we crush them ; but our 
League of freemen dies a violent death. Our 
actual state is better than such triumph. We 
must take the evil and the good together, even 
though we fret against the separate Cantonal 
vote, and fume most sorely at the Communal 
local life/ 



54 



THE SWITZERS. 



In mere extent of surface Celtic Switzerland 
is nearly equal to Teutonic Switzerland ; but when 
we count the people there are only thirty Celts to 
every seventy Teutons ; and the thirty Celts are 
scattered into three distinct and hostile camps. 
One camp is Gallic, one Romonsch, and one Italian. 

' We come into these hills to-day/ observes 
the Teuton, ' as our fathers came a thousand 
years ago ; we come from Lombardy, from 
Swabia, and from Burgundy; we meet on these 
high crests — around the Ober Alp, the Furka, 
and the Sasso di Gottardo — and we try to push 
each other down the slope. We Teutons bear 
our language to the summit of each pass. The 
Celts, too, bring their language to the summit 
of each pass. Our language is High German in 
the colleges, Low German in the streets. Their 
language is of more variety than ours. We 
speak the Allemannic idiom mainly, as our kins- 
men speak it in the Rhineland, from the quays 
of Rorschah to the gates of Metz. They speak 
three several forms of Latin — French, Italian, 
and Romonsch ; French in the Rhone system, 
Italian in the Po system, Romonsch in the Inn 
system, and in the upper portion of the Rhine. 

The Federal Hall in Bern has a department of 



TEUTON AND CELT. 



55 



Statistics, where one of the most learned statists 
of our time, Max Wirth, sits brooding over lists ; 
for counting people and arranging facts is an 
essential function of the state ; and Wirth is 
said to know not only every goat and cow, but 
every tree and almost every blade of grass, in 
Switzerland. Some mornings spent in this depart- 
ment of Statistics has enriched me with a world of 
useful facts. 

The Switzers were enumerated, they and their 
belongings, on the first day of December last. 
Not many strangers are in Switzerland so late, 
and of the strangers who are noted in the lists as 
such (in number, 13,852), the greater part are living 
in the land. The totals are : — 

Population in December, 1870. 

Males 1,305,670 

Females . . . . 1,364,675 

Total . . . 2,670,345 

Excess of females over males, 59,005. 

This excess of female life is rather more than 
in surrounding countries, and is not explained by 
what is held to be the cause of our disparities of 



56 



THE SWITZERS. 



sex in England — emigration of the single men. 
A second schedule gives us these results : — 

Number of Families . . . 557,820 
Number of Houses . . . , 390,318 

The families are small for countries which are 
mainly tenanted by a Teutonic race. 

Two points are to be noted in these figures ; 
first, the number of persons in each Family ; and 
next, the great excess of Families over Houses. 
On the average for all Switzerland, a Family con- 
sists of less than five members : father, mother, 
and three children; while the average of other 
countries of Teutonic race is six and seven. The 
village system, as in Russia, tends to check the 
natural rate of growth. In counting roofs, we 
find the number of Families in great excess of 
Houses ; very near a tliird part of the whole. 

Excess of Families over Houses . . 167,502 

The village system, as in Russia, tends to check 
the growth of separate roof-trees. 

The number of households is in large excess of 
the number of houses in which they have to live. 
Every third family must dwell beneath a roof-tree 
not its own. 



TEUTON AND CELT. 



57 



In Languages we find : 

Families speaking German . . . 384,561 

French , . - 134,183 

Italian . . . 30,293 

, Romonsch . . . 8,759 

English , 19 
, Dutch, Polish, Magyar, 

and Spanish (one each) . 5 



Huss 



Families . 557,820 

The first four groups are native, and require 
to have their separate books of law. It would 
be something if each idiom had a Canton or a 
group of Cantons to itself; but such is not the 
rule, and hardly the exception to a rule. In each 
of the twenty-five Cantons and Half-cantons you 
hear German spoken, but in none of these exclu- 
sively. In nineteen Cantons and Half-cantons 
you hear French ; in some but little, and in others 
much, but not in one exclusively. In twenty- 
one Cantons and Half-cantons there is some 
Italian, if not much ; but no one Canton speaks 
Italian exclusively. The Romonsch idiom is less 
widely spread, yet Komonsch may be heard in 
twelve several Cantons as a native speech. There 
are, of course, some zig-zag and concentric lines of 
language. German, which is heard in every Can- 
ton of the Bund, maintains a large predominance 



58 



TBE SWITZERS. 



in Zurich, Bern, Luzern, and all the upper Can- 
tons, with the one exception of Graubtinden. 
French is the prevailing tongue in Neufchatel, 
Geneva, Yalais, Yaud, and Fribourg ; but hi Yaud 
and Fribourg German is the language of a strong 
minority of the people — close upon a thud. Ita- 
lian has its chief seats in Graubtinden and Ticino ; 
in the first of which Cantons nearly nine thousand 
families speak Romonsch. This Rustic Latin is 
the only language in the country which is dying 
out. Italian, French, and German grow with the 
growth of population more or less. The increase 
in the last ten years stands thus : — 

Increase in the number of families speaking — 

Italian 1,596 

French . . . . . 10,745 
German . . . . . 17,496 

Romonsch is failing ; giving way to German, 
which is taught hi every public school. In 1860 
there were 8882 families in the country speak- 
ing Romonsch; in 1870 there were 8759. Grau- 
btinden is the modern Babel. In this mountain 
Canton dwell some twenty thousand families 
speaking as returned below : — 

Speaking German . . . 9328 families. 

„ Romonsch . . . 8715 

Italian . . . 3000 

French ... 29 



TEUTON AND CELT. 



59 



The differences of race are mostly those of 
language, but not always. In the twenty-five 
Cantons and Half-cantons there are : — 

Of Teutonic race . . . 2,000,000 souls. 
Of Celtic race . . . 670,000 

The two great races hold their natural lines ; 
the Northern races nearly all the north, the 
Southern races nearly all the south. But two 
exceptions to the law are visible, — one exception 
in the Rhone valley ; a second exception in the 
Rhine valley. Up to Sion the Rhone is Celtic ; 
at Sierre it is mixed ; and higher up the stream 
is wholly Teutonic. Up to Chur the Rhine is 
German, but in Ilanz it is mixed, and higher up 
the stream is Romonsch. What cause has 
brought this contradiction to a natural law ? The 
structure of these mountain walls. The valley 
of the Rhone is long and narrow. France has 
but one opening into it beyond the passage at 
Villeneuve, — the high and lateral entry from Cha- 
mounix by the Forclaz. Only through these 
gorges can the Gauls from Burgundy and Savoy 
pour into the Valais ; but in passing up the 
river, they are met in front, and taken on the 
flank, by Teutons coming by the Furka pass 
from Andermatt, the Grimsel pass from Mey- 



60 



THE SWITZERS. 



ringen, the Gemmi pass from Unterseen, the 
Col du Rawyl from Thun, the Sanetsch pass 
from Gsteig and Saanen. Met by these descend- 
ing masses, they retire on Sion, where they 
hold their ground, and keep the forms of Latin 
life. Five passes through their mountains make 
the Teutons masters of the Upper Rhone. But 
Nature, which has given the Teuton access to 
his neighbour's river, has denied him access 
to his own. From Ober Alp to Trons, in the 
Fore Rhine valley, there is not a chamois trail 
across the northern heights. From Trons and 
Flims there rise two bridle paths ; near Ilanz 
is an opening to the Panix ; but these paths are 
high and hard to climb ; while on the southern 
bank a dozen easy roads lead in and out of the 
Italian valleys ; roads from Albula, from Stalla 
from Spliigen, from Bernardina, from Olivone, 
from Yal Piora and from Airolo. Thus, a counter 
march to what has given the upper waters of 
the Phone to men of northern race, has given the 
upper waters of the Rhine to men of southern 
race. A Teutonic colony has pushed towards 
Italy ; and if they have not crossed the ridge, 
these colonists hold the mountains to the top. 
They own the hamlets of the Rheinwald and 



TEUTON AND CELT. 



61 



the pastures of Averserthal. Some German 
thorpes are circled by a foreign population, like 
the German colonies in Russia. One such thorpe 
is that of Bosco, in Ticino. St. Martin and 
Obersaxen are Teutonic thorpes. 

'You see/ the Bernese adds, as we go over 
all these curious facts, ' we are an odd amalgam 
of all races and all creeds. We speak Italian, 
Romonsch, French, and German. We are Luthe- 
ran, Calvinist, Catholic, Israelite. We are Latin, 
Gallic, Low Dutch^ High Dutch, Hebrew. We 
are not a nation, even as we are not a people. 
We have Communes, Cantons, and Half-cantons, 
but as yet we have no Switzerland. A Switzer 
has his Commune, but he has no country. You 
will hear in Bern that we are twenty -five repub- 
lics, but in truth we are five hundred republics ; 
every one of these republics with a local life 
and independent claims. Our Communes were 
republics once, and have not wholly lost their 
sovereign rights/ 



62 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE COMMUNES. 

When Bourbaki, rapidly recoiling from the gates 
of Belfort and the guns of Manteufel, tumbled 
over into Canton NeufcMtel, the Swiss Society of 
Public Usefulness — a rich and patriotic body — 
snatched the moment (Monday, Feb. 20, 1871) 
when eighty thousand French troops were scat- 
tered far and wide among five hundred Com- 
munes — ten in one place, forty in a second, 
seventy in a third — to give the fugitives some 
lessons in the art of being free. 

These strangers were republicans, but not as 
Switzers are republicans. The French Republic, 
under which they served, is One and Indivisible. 
She sweeps away all barriers, landmarks, and 
distinctions. She erases history. She hates the 
names of hamlet, city, province ; will not hear 
of Breton, Nizzard, Gascon ; rolls a level over 
the rough soil of France, and makes one family 



THE COMMUNES. 



63 



of the tribes and nations she has gathered to her 
flag. She has one head, one heart, one hand, in 
which her thought, her blood, her force, reside. 
She is impatient of provincial rule, and finds in 
unity the principle of her life. These strangers 
knew so little of the Switzers, as to fancy that 
a French and Swiss republic were the same 
affair. They dreamt, that on a proclamation at 
the Hotel de Ville in Paris, the Jura mountains 
fell for ever; that in fact, if not as yet in form, 
the Swiss republic was absorbed by France. 

It was regarded as a work of public useful- 
ness to clear their brains of all such notions ; 
to inform these strangers of the actual truths ; 
to show them how a Swiss republic differs from 
a French. 

A little book, a souvenir of Switzerland, was 
printed by the Bernese press ; containing, in the 
simplest words, a true account of what the Swiss 
republic is — the Commune, Canton, and Confeder- 
ation — with the rights which every Switzer holds 
by birth. A copy of this book was given to 
every soldier of the French republic quartered 
in a Swiss hamlet ; and it might be well if 
such a souvenir of Switzerland were given to 
every stranger coming to the alps. Swiss life 



64 



THE SWITZERS. 



is not a simple thing. These villagers and 
burghers have the art of being free ; yet not 
the art of being free as men in England and 
America are free. A Swiss republic has more 
likeness to an American republic than a French ; 
but there are points in which the League of Can- 
tons differs utterly from the United States. Some 
days ago, a liberal orator, when speaking at Ver- 
sailles, declared that France desires to have a 
form of government such as people find at Wash- 
ington and Bern. How all the journals in this 
country laughed ! ' Are we the same ? ; they 
asked in mockery ; ' we, who build the whole of 
our political edifice on the Commune — a founda- 
tion utterly unknown in the United States V The 
Switzers know their country better ; and by this 
time thousands of Bourbaki's troops are able to 
instruct the French. 

The integer of Swiss political society is not 
the individual, not the household, but the Com- 
mune. 

In the passing hour this name of Commune 
stinks in many nostrils with the reek of powder 
and petroleum ; and in ears disposed to catch at 
sounds, the very word suggests a dance of death. 
A fire breaks out in the Bue du Bhone, Geneva. 



THE COMMUNES. 



65 



The wind is very high ; the fire brigade is slow ; 
and house by house, the conflagration spreads, 
until it nears the lake. Vast crowds of people 
fill the streets ; the civic guards turn out ; the 
councillors of state are on the ground ; and in 
the noise of shouting crowds, and falling roofs, 
and roaring winds, the flames are mastered and 
repressed. Next day, an article appears in the 
Paris Gaulois, dated from Geneva, hinting that 
this fire is not an accident, that agents are em- 
ployed, and that Geneva will be burnt as Paris 
has been burnt. This evidence is given. A per- 
son in the crowd, his name not known, is heard 
to cry, ' Burn the aristocrats — Long live the 
Commune ! ' Being seized by well-dressed people, 
he is shielded by a mob of working men, and 
gets away unhurt. At once the Journal de 
Geneve replies that no such scene occurred. 
Jules Klein, the correspondent of the Gaulois, 
answers that he heard the words and saw the 
man arrested and released. The words were 
Vive la Commune ! Klein is justified by facts. 
Then comes the culprit with his word ; he is 
a Genevese, one Etienne Perrudet, who ran to 
help the firemen, and assisted at the pumps 
from midnight until dawn. On leaving off, he 

F 



66 



THE SWITZERS. 



meets some firemen from Boage, a village near 
Geneva, whom he greets with cries of Vive la 
Commune de Boage ! Some persons, hearing 
only half his greeting, lay their hands on him, 
but when the firemen tell these persons what 
has passed, they break into a laugh and send 
him to his breakfast with a merry shout ! 

But though the Commune smells just now of 
fire and ashes, yet the thing itself is old, and 
almost sacred ; for the Commune is a part of our 
most ancient record, part of our Bible history and 
of our human life. In Oriental countries it is still 
familiar to men s eyes and thoughts ; and if our 
western world is leaving it behind — as finding no 
more use for it — the Commune still exists as a 
political and social form, in every country of the 
rising sutl from Russia, Palestine, and Egypt, to 
the farther kingdoms of the East. 

In the United States, they take the individual 
man as unit, and all public franchises are vested 
in that individual man. The individual votes. 
In England we are apt to treat the household as 
the unit, and to vest the franchise in the house. 
With us the roof-tree votes. In Russia they re- 
gard the individual and the family as fractions of 
the Commune. There the Commune votes, pays 



THE COMMUNES. 



67 



taxes, fills the ranks, divides the soil, and exer- 
cises magisterial power. In Switzerland the 
Commune has an almost equal rank. A Com- 
mune has its own estate; the land on which the 
people who compose it live. In olden times, this 
land was held in common, as such land is held in 
Russia now ; but much of it has passed from 
public custody into private hands. Yet every 
Commune owns some land, some wood, some 
water-right, in common fee. These riches are 
the Communal fund, in which each member of 
the Commune has an equal share. 

Some thinkers of the highest class contend 
that this Swiss village system is a great success. 
' Observe my country/ says a voice, to which one 
cannot choose but listen ; ' what is there to see ? 
Free speech, free roads, free trade. You meet no 
soldiers in our streets. You are not troubled by 
police. We have no village parson, and no country 
squire. Our towns are orderly, our hamlets clean. 
Our schools, our mills, our forests, are alive with 
people, every child and every man of whom is as 
a lord unto himself. This order of our people 
has the order of our Communes for its natural 
source/ The Swiss Society of Public Usefulness 
declare, in the souvenir given to Bourbaki's 



68 



THE SWITZERS. 



troops, ' Our laws proceed from this great prin- 
ciple, that our institutions are truly free and 
popular only in so far as our Communes are free/ 
The Commissioners appointed by the National 
Council to revise the Federal constitution say, in 
their report (May 5, 1871), < The liberty of the 
Swiss Commune is justly considered as the school 
and cradle of our political liberties/ 

Swiss Communes are not modelled, like the 
Russian Communes, on a single type. In Canton 
Geneva there are forty -four Communes ; in Grau- 
biinden there are two hundred and five Com- 
munes. In fact, these Communes differ very 
much in size, in form, in wealth, in rules. In 
some Cantons they are open ; but in many 
Cantons they are closed. In some the craft and 
calling of a member is a capital point. In others, 
birth is prized ; not blood, as in a country ruled 
by nobles, but a birth-right in the soil — a pre- 
ference given to Bernese Teuton over Swabian 
Teuton, to a Valaisian Celt over a Savoyard Celt. 
In some religion is a test. Some Communes 
claim no higher powers than may be exercised 
in England by a trading company — a bank, a 
railway, or a joint-stock farm. Such easy bodies 
may be found by hundreds in the richer and more 



THE COMMUNES. 



69 



prosperous Cantons, Zurich, Aargau, Vaud, and 
Bern. But many of the Communes claim the 
rights of independent states — a right to cut 
down trees, to injure dykes, and open gaming- 
houses at the public cost. Such difficult bodies 
may be found in plenty in the poorer and more 
ignorant Cantons, Valais, Appenzel, Graubunden, 
and Ticino. 

Yet, in these varieties, there is a common 
life. Each Commune is a small republic, with 
her free and equal members, her assemblies, 
ballots, and debates, her mayor and council, and 
her Communal lists. 

A Communal Assembly is the whole body of 
members properly convened in either market, 
public-house, or open field ; where they can make 
their by-laws, and elect a council and a mavor. 
These officers must be chosen from the list of 
citizens who have a right to vote. As women 
have no votes, they are not called upon to serve. 
In every village, lists are kept, and every member 
has his name inscribed. Inscription is his proof 
of citizenship. Each member has the same rights 
as every other member. No precedence is allowed. 
In Switzerland there may be families as old as 
any in the empires on her borders. Not a little 



70 



THE SWITZERS. 



of the proudest blood in Europe flows from castles 
on these alps. The Austrian Kaisers come from 
Habsburg, in the Canton Aargau ; and the Ger- 
man Kaisers draw their line from Neufchatel. 
But the oldest families are like the newest : they 
must stand on living merit, not on long descent. 
No thought is given to birth. All families, a 
Switzer holds, are of an equal age and equal 
rank. 

These citizens, who may be woodmen, goat- 
herds, weavers, what not, name the mayor and 
council of the Commune from their body, and the 
officers thus selected are the sole authorities in 
the place. They must be five — a mayor and four 
citizens ; in larger villages they may be ten. 
Much work falls on them, which they cannot 
shirk. They serve two years at least, and may 
be kept in office six. No man is free to either 
serve or not as suits his mood ; the Commune 
must be served. A man selected by Ms equals 
takes his spell of office, as he takes in earlier 
days his spell of school, and in his later day his 
spell of camp. 



71 



CHAPTER VIII. 

COMMUNAL AUTHORITIES. 

The cares which fall upon these village rulers 
are of many kinds. 

A mayor and council are the fathers of the 
Commune ; nothing can be done without their 
leave. In countries where the Commune is un- 
known, in which the mayor and council are 
replaced by squire and curate, every one is free 
to act as he thinks well, and eat the fruit of 
what he plants ; but in a Commune, men are 
guided by the mayor. A school-boy who has 
been expelled for sloth or surliness can only be 
admitted to his class again by intervention of 
his mayor. A goatherd who has fallen in love 
with village maiden, cannot wed his lass without 
permission from his mayor. 

These peasant magistrates have charge of the 
estate. They watch the roads and streets, they 
keep the fountains running, they observe who 



72 



THE SWITZERS. 



comes and goes each day, they guard the fields 
from torrents and the sheds from fire, they see 
that children walk straight home from school, 
they send on tramps, and write and keep the 
communal lists. They make and execute the 
local rules. They say which pines are to be cut, 
which roads must be repaired, which torrents 
should be bridged. They hold the poor fund and 
drive away such persons as they find unprofitable 
members of their guild. 

The poor have claims, not only on the lands 
and forests held in common, but on certain 
funds which have been set apart as poor funds, 
and on all the charities of a Christian land. 
A Commune may be very poor — some Communes 
in Graubiinden and the Valais say they are 
extremely poor — but even in Graubiinden and 
the Yalais there is nothing like a settled pauper 
class. These Communes will not let a pauper class 
grow up. A sot, a sluggard, and a fool, must 
tramp. They have no room for such a man, 
nor can he skulk into a hole and live upon 
their earnings like a rat. They smoke him out ; 
they take him to the village mayor; they tell 
him he must try some other place. They hint 
that either France, or Austria, or America, would 



COMMUNAL AUTHORITIES. 



73 



be his field. If lie is slow to see their drift, 
they help him with a few plain words. At last 
he sees that he must trudge, and then they pay 
his fare to Paris, to Vienna, to New York. This 
fare may be a hundred francs, three hundred 
francs, five hundred francs ; but down it goes 
upon the nail ; the wastrel packs his trap ; the 
Commune shakes him off for good and bad. 

The mayor and council have to build the 
primary schools, to seek the teachers, to inspect 
the class-rooms, to enforce the rules and regu- 
lations, to prevent disorder, to preside at festivals 
and promotions, to instruct the careless parent 
in his duties, to supply the means, both moral 
and material, for attaining and preserving the 
highest character for their village schools. 

A man of any craft and creed may claim to 
have his part in any Commune where he dwells ; 
but then this Commune is the judge of whether 
she will grant his prayer or not. She can refuse 
his claim and give no reason why. Before she 
listens to his suit at all, she asks him for a proof 
of his nationality, a certificate of his good life 
and manners, evidence of his ability to support 
himself and his belongings, testimony that he has 
not lost his civic rights by condemnation in a 



74 



THE SWITZERS. 



court of law. Such proofs are scanned with 
jealous eyes. Though nothing may be found 
against the man, his suit may be rejected by the 
village sires. In any case there will be money 
to pay down ; but money is not all in all. 
Paternal governors are hard to please. They 
may not like his looks ; they may dislike his 
creed. A dwarf, a cretin, or a cripple, would be 
turned adrift by any communal mayor without 
a word. In many parts religion is the primary 
test. Among the nimble, jealous, and artistic 
folks of Neufchatel and Vaud, engaged in making 
clocks, a Jew would have no chance. Among 
the stolid, picturesque, and hardy folk of Appen- 
zel-inner-Ilhoden, tending kine and making cheese, 
a Lutheran would have no chance. A right of 
settling where he likes, of changing his abode 
from year to year, and striking root in any 
mountain side, is not a right to which the Swit- 
zer, free as he may call himself, is born. 

This name of Switzer, borne so proudly in 
all foreign countries by the. men who own it, has 
a meaning for the stranger which it hardly bears 
at home. A man of English blood first thinks of 
himself as being an Englishman, then as being 
a Londoner, and only in the thud degree as 



COMMUNAL AUTHORITIES. 



75 



being a Paddingtonian. A man of Swiss descent 
reverses this arrangement. He is first (say) a 
Wiesbacher, then a Bernese, afterwards a Switzer. 
He is conscious of an overmastering law. ' We 
move/ explains the Swiss Society of Public Use- 
fulness in their souvenir, ' from low to high ; 
the Commune is the centre of our life ; and 
there can be no true development of liberty 
except so far as it proceeds from the Commune 
— from the centre to the circling lines.' 

A Switzer s right of settlement on his native 
soil, though urged in many quarters, is not 
popular in any Commune. Five or six attempts 
to get the Cantons to adopt the general principle 
that a Switzer has a right to settle where he 
pleases in the territories of the League have 
failed : the last attempt so lately as five years 
ago. The leading Cantons — Zurich, Bern, Luzern, 
Geneva — press the doctrine ; but the smaller 
Cantons, Uri, Valais, Schwyz, and the two Half- 
cantons of Unterwalden, will not yield. Appenzel- 
inner-Bhoden will admit a Catholic to her Com- 
munes, but she shuts her gates on every Lutheran 
and on every Jew. 

A Commune is in part a guild, with common 
property in trust ; in part a congregation, with 



76 



THE SWITZERS. 



a common faith in charge ; and the religious 
question weighs with some far more than any 
thought of worldly goods. In every case the 
entry of a stranger is regarded as a privilege — 
the only privilege existing in this pure democracy 
— and, like all privilege, is an affair of sale. 
Some Communes have a tariff, which is fixed by 
the assembly, and deposited with the mayor ; a 
tariff raised or lowered according to the market 
in such things. 

In Communes like Lausanne and Bern, which 
own large tracts of land and forest, prices may be 
high ; from fifty to a thousand francs, according 
to the age and sex, the country and condition, of 
the stranger coming in. A boy pays more than a 
girl ; a married man pays more than a single man ; 
a foreigner pays more than a native. In the Com- 
mune of Lausanne, the tariff has been lowered this 
autumn ; not without a serious fight in favour of 
the Commune as against the citizen. In older 
times, the Communes of Lausanne regarded 
Bernese, Ziirichers, and other Switzers, in the 
light of strangers, and the charge for their ad- 
mission was the same as for admitting .Russians, 
French, and Danes. It was suggested by M. Pidon, 
one of the commissioners of revision, that the 



COMMUNAL AUTHORITIES. 



77 



privilege of a lower price enjoyed by citizens of 
Canton Vaud should be extended to all citizens 
of the Swiss League. At first his views were 
hooted down, as tending towards a red republic ; 
for in Canton Vaud, a Commune is the strong- 
hold of conservative opinions ; but a patriotic 
spirit was created by the recent war which gave 
M. Pidon unexpected strength. He placed the 
Swiss Idea under vivid lights ; and in the end 
his motion was adopted by the Council. Friday, 
Nov. 3, 1871, was a great day in the Commune 
of Lausanne ; for on that day a Bernese and a 
Zuricher were accepted by the Vaudois capital as 
something nearer than a Russian and a Dane. 

The tariff of the Commune of Lausanne now 
stands : — 

For Yaudois and other Switzers. 

Head of a Family . . 500 francs. 

A Married Son ... 350 „ 

An Unmarried Son . . 150 „ 

A Daughter . . . 75 „ 

A double rate is fixed for foreigners : — 

For Non- Switzers. 

Head of a Family . . 1000 francs. 
A Married Son ... 700 „ 
An Unmarried Son . . 300 „ 

A Daughter . . . 150 „ 



78 



THE SWITZERS. 



The open fine on marriage is not the least curi- 
ous item in these lists. A married man pays seven 
hundred francs for self and wife. An unmarried 
man pays three hundred francs ; an unmarried 
woman pays a hundred and fifty francs. A 
bachelor and spinster pay together four hundred 
and fifty francs against seven hundred paid by 
a wedded pair. 



79 



CHAPTER IX. 

COMMUNAL GOVERNMENT. 

This fine imposed on married couples coming into 
any Commune is no whimsy of a village mayor 
and council, but the offspring of a settled policy 
in all the Communes for checking a too rapid 
growth. A married couple may have children ; 
children mean more mouths to feed ; and, in the 
failure of parental care, these mouths may come 
upon the Communal funds. So married couples 
are not wanted in the Communes ; if they seek 
to enter they must pay an extra fine. A guild 
with property in common has an obvious interest 
in diminishing the claims upon that property. 
The natural enemies of such a guild are married 
people, who may bring new mouths into the 
world ; and therefore married people are dis- 
couraged from applying for admission to the Com- 
munal mayor. 

A cold and jealous eye is bent on any one 



80 



THE SWITZERS. 



within the Commune who may hint that he would 
like to marry. Every obstacle is raised that can 
be raised. In many Cantons a man can only 
marry on the license of his mayor, who may 
decline to grant such license when circumstances 
offer him a fair excuse. The man may be too 
young or he may be too old. He may be halt 
or blind ; he may be deaf or dumb. He may be 
crazed in mind ; and some old bachelor mayor 
may think the wish to marry very good evidence 
of craze. He may be poor. The girl he seeks 
may not be of his Canton. He may have a 
dubious character in his village. Any reason will 
suffice. A case is now before the Federal Council 
on petition. Alois Arnold is a peasant, living in 
his Commune of Attinghausen, in the Reuss 
valley, near to Altdorf, in the land of William 
Tell. Six years ago this peasant fell in love 
with Genevieve Guebey of Onnion, a hamlet in 
Savoy. Having gained the girls assent, he 
claimed a license from his mayor to marry her. 
The mayor was not in mood. He put the peasant 
off from time to time ; he raised objections more 
or less insulting ; and when pressed to go into 
the detail and decide upon the license, said 
he would not move a finger till the girl had 



COMMUNAL GOVERNMENT. 81 

paid into his hands a sum of five hundred and 
seventy-three francs. Then Alois took the law upon 
himself. Retiring for a while from Attinghausen 
and the land of Tell, he went to live in Savoy, 
near his promised bride, and married her at Onnion, 
where the priest made no inquiry for a license 
from his mayor. Alois was merry in his new abode ; 
but Savoy is not Uri; and at length his heart 
began to yearn for his old garden on the Reuss. 
He came, he showed his marriage lines, he took 
his wife to mass ; but no one in the hamlet would 
receive her as an honest woman,, or admit his 
children to their rights of birth. He waited on 
the mayor ; he offered to pay dow r n all fines 
inflicted by the Cantonal laws on an Uranian 
who may take a stranger for his wife. The 
mayor repelled him. Then he went to Altdorf, 
where the Cantonal Council was in session ; but 
the Cantonal Council would not interfere. Such 
questions come up every day ; in every Commune 
there is some unhappy Genevieve ; and if they 
meddled in the fray at Attinghausen, they must 
vex their souls with every wandering shepherd's 
love affairs. Then Alois came to Bern, and threw 
his story into the great group of facts suggesting 
a revision of the Federal law. 

G 



82 



THE SWITZERS. 



Another case. A friend of mine is waiting for 
a train at Biel. A crowd of peasants from the 
Commune of Diesbach, in the neighbourhood of 
Birren, come upon the platform, shouting, shiver- 
ing, sobbing, like a mob of girls. A young man 
and his bride are with them, who are also crying ; 
for the pair are starting on a journey to the 
western world — a journey not of their own seek- 
ing, but imposed on them by a paternal mayor ; 
and these poor countrymen, in pity for their exile, 
come to see them off. Paternal government in 
Diesbach, where the man was born, dislikes to 
see him marry, for the wretch is suffering from 
an epileptic fit ; and village fathers feel that he 
and his may be a burthen to their Commune at 
some future day. The bride, too, has her miseries 
of the Commune ; she belongs to Brtigg, and 
Briigg is tired of her, for she is poor, and has an 
infant three years old. The mother and her 
child were found one morning sleeping on a bank, 
with some small articles in a bag for sale. What 
could a fatherly mayor suggest, except that they 
should seek their fortunes in some other place ? 
To marry her, and cast her out, together with 
her infant child and epileptic husband, into space, 
would cost some hundred francs. The money was 



COMMUNAL GOVERNMENT. 



83 



paid down, the pair departed, and the peasants, 
kinder than their lords, have come with them to 
Biel, where they will start for Paris, on their 
way to Havre and New York. 

'It is a shameful sight,' a citizen of Biel ex- 
claims ; ' these Communes sell their children I ' 

' Never mind all that/ replies the woman ; 
■ buy a box of matches, please ! ' And then the 
train rolls out of Biel. 

* It is a burning shame/ remarks the citizen 
of Biel ; 4 the country must step in ; these pea- 
sant mayors and councillors have no heart ! ' 

The functions of these village sires are not 
defined by law. Each Commune in Graubiinden 
claims to be an independent state. Not long ago 
such villages as Trons, Dissentis, and Ilanz, 
exercised the power of life and death. It is not 
long since Andermatt lost her gallows and her 
right to hang and quarter. In the Valais there 
are Communes which regard themselves as sepa- 
rate states. One such commune, that of Saxon, 
sold a few years since the right to keep a 
public gaming-table for a certain sum. A com- 
pany, the Cercle des Etrangers, bought some 
ground, laid out a garden, built a pretty house, 



84 



THE SWITZEKS. 



with dancing-room and card-room all complete. 
The gamblers and the courtesans of Europe 
flocked to Saxon. Saxon found the sin pay 
very well ; and when the world cried out against 
her for the shame she brought on Switzerland, 
the mayor and council snapt their fingers at the 
men of Bern and Zurich. They were acting in 
their right. Four million francs were spent on 
Saxon by these strangers ; every one was richer 
for the outlay ; and the money that enriched 
him came from Paris, Moscow, and Madrid, not 
Bern and Zurich. Why should Bern and Zurich 
interfere ? 

As the world elsewhere is closing all such 
places, agents are about the Valais tempting 
other Communes by the chink of gold. These 
agents want a place with mineral springs ; a pretty 
place it should be, and an idle place it must be. 
They have been to Monthey, in the Val d'lllies, 
as well as other Communes on the railway lines ; 
but not, as yet, with much success ; for public 
indignation has been roused ; and mayors decline 
to bring the tempest on their roofs. But Saxon 
keeps her tables open ; pleading that if harm is 
done, it is to strangers, not to her own people ; 



COMMUNAL GOVERNMENT. 



85 



that if gambling is immoral, there are many in- 
dustries about a kursaal which an honest man 
may ply. 

The cantonal authorities are slow to move 
against a Commune in their district ; and by 
law the Canton, not the Confederation, is the 
actual State. 



86 



CHAPTER X. 

CANTONS AND HALF-CANTONS. 

The Canton is the State. 

Few jurists hold with the mayor of Saxon 
that any part of Swiss sovereignty resides in 
a Commune. Jurists of all sections, whether 
Celtic or Teutonic, whether Catholic or Evan- 
gelical, whether Conservative or Radical, admit 
that Swiss sovereignty resides in the Cantons. 
When the members for these Cantons meet in 
Bern, with certain forms, and in a single room, 
they hold this sovereignty in common ; but they 
bring it into Bern, they do not find it here ; 
and when they leave this town they carry it 
with them to their several homes. 

In speaking roundly one would say there are 
in Switzerland twenty- two Cantons, which are 
marked officially and in order, thus : — 1. Zurich ; 
2. Bern ; 3. Luzern ; 4. Uri ; 5. Schwyz ; 6. Unter- 



CANTONS AND HALF-CANTONS. 



87 



walden ; 7. Glarus ; 8. Zug ; 9. Fribourg ; 10. Solo- 
thttrn ; 11. Basel; 12. Schaffhausen ; 13. Appen- 
zell; 14. St. Gallen ; 15. Graubiinden (Romonsch, 
Grischa — French, Grisons) ; 16. Aargau ; 17. 
Thurgau; 18. Ticino ; 19. Vaud ; 20. Yalais ; 
21. Neufchatel; 22. Geneva. This arrangement, 
though historical, does not correspond to the 
historical growth ; for Zurich, now the heart and 
brain of the republic, was very far from being 
the original founder of the League. That glory 
lies with Schwyz; here marked as number 5. 
Schwyz gave her name, her genius, and her 
flag, to the Alliance. From Schwyz we get the 
name of Switzer ; the connexion of religion with 
democracy ; the pure white cross upon the 
blood-red field. When Tell was tending kine 
at Biirglen, on the Uri slopes, there were no 
Switzers save the men of Schwyz. Tell never 
called himself a Switzer. Tell was a Uranian, 
and his Canton Uri. Schwyz had gamed in 
war — -for she was ever stout in fight — the flag 
she lent her allies of the League. Three other 
Forest Cantons, Uri, Unterwalden, and Luzern, 
were in the League while Zurich stood outside — 
a feudal and imperial town. But Zurich was a 



88 



THE SWITZERS. 



rich and powerful city, and the moment she 
adhered to the Alliance she assumed in it the 
leading part. Bern followed her, and shared 
her power. Luzern, as chief of the four Forest 
Cantons, claimed an equal rank. As soon as any 
Federal Council met, this council sat by turns 
in either of these capitals — two years in each. 
But Zurich and Luzern have each given up the 
claim to rank as capitals ; and now the President, 
the Council, and the two Assemblies, find a per- 
manent seat in Bern. 

Three of these twenty-two republics — Basel, 
Appenzell, and Unterwalden — have been separated 
into rival halves ; each half-republic keeping her 
own share of sovereign power. Basel is divided 
into Basel-stadt and Basel-land ; Appenzell into 
Appenzell- outer -Bhoden and Appenzell -inner - 
Khoden ; Unterwalden into Unterwalden ob-wald 
and Unterwalden nid-wald. 

These nineteen Cantons and six Half-cantons 
form the Swiss League. Each part is equal to 
each other part, in spite of variation as to 
size, to numbers, and to wealth. The differ- 
ences are very great. According to the census 
taken on the first day of December, 1870, the 



CANTONS AND HALF-CANTONS. 



89 



population and the mileage in each Canton and 



Half-canton stood : — 






CANTONS. 


POPULATION. 


SQUAPE MILES. 


1. Bern 


501,875 . 


2615 


2. Zurich 


284,477 . 


659 


3. Vaiid 


229,596 . 


1226 


4. Aargau 


198,731 . 


538 


5. St. Gallen . 


191,039 . 


781 


6. Luzern 


132,154 . 


480 


7. Ticino 


119,312 . 


1082 


8. Fribourg 


110,536 . 


632 


9. Valais 


97,409 . 


2016 


10. Neufchatel 


95,563 . 


308 


11. Thurgau 


93,260 . 


384 


12. Graubiinden 


92,793 . 


2706 


13. Geneva 


89,416 . 


110 


14. Solothurn . 


74,636 . 


292 


15. Schwyz 


47,728 . 


358 


16. Schaffhausen 


37,650 . 


118 


17. Glarus 


35,223 . 


265 


18. Zug 


20,986 . 


91 


19. Uri . 


16,095 . 


418 


HALF-CANTONS. 






1. Basel-land 


54,051 . 


166 


2. Basel-stadt 


47,124 . 


15 


3. Appenz ell-outer- Bhoden 48,765 


102 


4. Appenzell-inner- Bhoden 11,926 


61 


5. Unterwalden-ob-wald, 


14,437 . 


186 


6. Unterwalden-nid-wald, 


11,711 . 


112 



2,656,493 15,721 

The rending of full Cantons into Half-cantons 
is the work of party feuds ; in one place springing 



90 



THE SWITZERS. 



from political causes, in a second from religious 
strife, and in a third from wrangles about wood 
and grass. 

From 1501, when Canton Basel joined the 
League, to 1831, the city ruled the country dis- 
tricts ; for the town was wealthy, learned, pros- 
perous ; a seat of commerce, with a university, 
a minster, and a bridge across the Rhine. Some 
families in the town were noble ; many families 
in the Canton kept a feudal state. These families 
held the reins, and being chiefly Catholic and 
Conservative, they drove the farmers of the Jura 
districts into arms. Not once, but many times, 
the peasantry surrounded Basel ; now and then 
they hung a burgomeister ; but the craft and 
money of the citizens sufficed to save their 
city. When the storm of 1830 spread from 
Paris towards the Rhine, these farmers of the 
Jura rose once more ; the Federal troops were 
called into the Canton; and, in 1833, an Act 
of Separation was effected, so that in the future 
Canton Basel was to be divided into two Half- 
cantons ; into Basel-stadt, with Basel for her seat 
of government ; and Basel-land, with Liesthal for 
her seat of government. Each moiety sends a 
deputy to Bern ; the city a conservative deputy, 



CANTONS AND HALF-CANTONS. 91 



the country a democratic deputy — armed with 
half a vote ; and as these deputies vote on 
opposite sides in nearly every question, Canton 
Basel is in practice disfranchised by her domestic 
broils. 

The Appenzells were parted into sections long 
ago; so long ago as 1597 ; and wholly on account 
of their religious feuds. The fore-alp districts, 
dropping towards the Lake of Constanz, listened 
to the great reformers, while the mountain dis- 
tricts, chmbing towards Hoch Sentis, clung to 
their ancestral church. These fore-alp districts 
were inhabited by weavers of Teutonic race ; those 
mountain-sides were held by shepherds of a 
mixed descent, in whom the Romonsch blood was 
rich and red. A fight ensued, which wasted many 
villages and cost the Canton many lives ; but 
after years of mutual injury, these kites and 
crows grew weary of their strife. Each side 
felt sure it could not break the other ; as the 
mountain country was too rugged for the low- 
landers to scale and keep ; the lowland hamlets 
were too many and too populous for the moun- 
taineers to force and hold. A line was there- 
fore drawn between the shepherds and the 
weavers ; each consenting to withdraw beyond this 



92 



THE SWITZERS. 



line, and afterwards to live in separate camps. 
The League was asked to sanction this partition ; 
and the names of Appenzell-outer-Rhoden and 
Appenzell-inner-Rhoden were bestowed on these 
Half-cantons. Evangelicals were to live in Ap- 
penzell-outer-Rhoden, with the hamlet of Trogen 
for their seat of government. Catholics were to 
live in Appenzell-inner-Rhoden, with the hamlet 
of Appenzell for their seat of government. So 
these two Half-cantons send their deputies to 
Bern, in which their two half- votes are mostly 
thrown away, since they are cast into opposing 
scales. 

Unterwalden was divided into sections long 
before the Reformation, and in fact before the 
League itself was formed. A forest called the 
Kernwald cuts this Canton into two unequal 
parts, the Ob-wald (over-forest) and the Nid-wald 
(under-forest) ; and so early as the twelfth century, 
the herdsmen who were separated by this forest 
quarrelled, fought for mastery, and, failing to 
achieve decisive victory on either side, agreed 
to live in peace, each section with a capital, a 
code, a government of its own. Unterwalden- 
ob-wald placed her capital at Sarneh, by the 
Lake of Sarnen, in the upper valley. Unter- 



CANTONS AND HALF-CANTONS. 93 



walden-nid-wald placed her capital at Stanz, 
midway between the western Aa and eastern 
Aa. When Unterwalden joined the league of 
Forest Cantons she retained this old division ; 
so that each Half- Canton is represented in the 
Federal Council by half a vote. 

This tendency of Cantons to divide and cross 
each other is not dead. For years past Fribourg 
has been threatened with disruption on her 
western frontier, and the utmost care is needed 
to preserve the public peace. A people differing 
as to race and creed, to speech and occupation, 
have been thrown together in this Canton Fri- 
bourg ; Celts and Teutons, Protestants and 
Catholics, engineers and shepherds ; each with 
habits and opinions which the other loathes as 
so much spume and spawn tossed upward from 
the burning lake. One portion of the Canton is 
entirely Gallic, with a population holding liberal 
views in politics and evangelical views in church 
affairs. A second portion of the Canton is entirely 
German, with a population holding ultramontane 
views in church and state. The town of Morat, 
on the Lake of Morat, is the liberal centre ; while 
the town of Fribourg, on the Sarine, is the 
ultramontane centre. In devotion to this party, 



94 



THE SWITZERS. 



Fribourg bears away the bell from Sion and 
Luzern. She built a palace for the Jesuits. She 
gives a home to the Society of Pio Nono. She 
was foremost in the Separate League. She has an 
ultramontane Council. She lends herself to every 
movement of the priestly orders. Evangelical flesh 
and blood can hardly stand such blind devotion to 
the Church ; and hence the enemies of Rome desire 
to break this Canton into halves : one fraction 
having Fribourg — which has never raised, they say, 
an arm for freedom — as her seat of government ; 
the second fraction having Morat — which, they say, 
is glorified in history — as her seat of government. 
By such a split the liberal party would obtain a vote 
in Bern. The new republic would be liberal, Pro- 
testant and French ; and Catholic Fribourg s vote 
would be destroyed by the Protestant Morat's vote. 

The Federal Council dare not open this great 
subject of dispute. A plea of difference in religious 
faith is urged in several Cantons — in St. Gallen, 
in Graubiinden, in Geneva, and in Aargau — 
where the population is more equally divided by 
the two confessions than in Fribourg ; and the 
Council dares not brave a public conflict on such 
dangerous ground. 

Each Canton and Half-canton is a separate 



CANTONS AND HALF-CANTONS. 95 



state, complete within itself, enjoying rights and 
offices derived from no exterior source, and holding 
various powers which she inherits from the past, 
and has not yet surrendered to the League. Not 
long ago each Canton had a separate coinage, 
and the raps and bats of one were not a legal 
tender in the next. Not long ago each 
Canton had an agent in Vienna, Rome, and 
Paris ; and the greatest potentates sent ministers 
to Sarnen, Schwyz, and Zug. Each Canton 
claimed to treat with kings, and recognise all 
sovereign acts. For many years the Half-canton 
of Appenzell-inner-Bhoden would not recognise 
the French Revolution of 1830, and Louis Philippe 
was dethroned and dead before his agents in the 
Canton could obtain a hearing from their shep- 
herd hosts. 

Not long ago each Canton kept a custom-house 
on every road, and manned a tower at every 
bridge, at which to levy rates. Each load of 
grass and butt of wine, each sack of corn and 
pound of cheese, that passed her boundary was 
taxed. All fish that floated to her net was prize. 
Not long ago each Canton raised an army of her 
own, equipped and moved that army as she pleased, 
and lent her troops for hire to princes who could 



96 



THE SWITZERS. 



pay, — to Kings of France and Naples, and, still 
later, Popes of Rome. These several marks of 
sovereignty have been surrendered to the League, 
The cantonal mints, the cantonal embassies, the 
cantonal customs, and the cantonal armies — all 
these things are gone. Two remnants only of 
these sovereign powers remain : the right to levy 
certain rates on wine, called ohmgeld, at the 
frontiers of each Canton ; and the right to keep 
on foot a half battalion of three hundred men. 

Though stripped of these old marks of 
sovereignty, each Canton has a separate constitu- 
tion, capital, and government. Each Canton has 
a parliament, a court of justice, and an execu- 
tioner. Each Canton has the power of life and 
death. Each Canton makes and executes her 
laws. 

Some Cantons fix the age at which a man 
begins to vote at twenty ; others at eighteen ; 
and one at least as low as sixteen. Where 
they have parliaments, the members of these 
parliaments are chosen by universal voting in 
the ba]lot-box. Each citizen is constrained to 
give his vote. A full majority of the votes 
recorded are required for an election. Every 
man is free to stand as candidate ; every man 



CANTONS AND HALF-CANTONS. 97 



is qualified to act as President ; and every man is 
paid for service to a public cause. 

Each Canton has a separate criminal code ; and, 
even when the codes are pretty much the same 
in neighbouring Cantons, the procedure is unlike. 
Glarus and Unterwalden have no regular codes 
of criminal law; what passes in their courts 
for codes of law is old tradition, based on either 
clerical usages or ancient German rules. In Uri, 
Schwyz, and Unterwalden, certain crimes are 
punished by exposure in the pillory, by flogging, 
and by penance in the church. But these old 
forms of punishment are falling into disrepute. 
Geneva and the Jura districts have the penal 
codes of France. In Zurich, Aargau, Thurgau, 
and some other Cantons, modern codes have 
been adopted. Basel-stadt and Basel-land have 
different penal laws. The Appenzells have also 
different penal laws. But every Canton in the 
League displays some zeal in her amendment 
of the penal codes. In Zurich, Neufchatel, and 
Fribourg, capital punishment has been abo- 
lished ; and in other Cantons, which have not 
abolished capital punishment, the guillotine is 
substituted for the axe and sword. In Canton 
Bern the peasants cannot reconcile themselves 

H 



98 



THE SWITZERS. 



to letting murderers escape with life ; for in 
the Oberland, where roads are bad and hamlets 
spare, the highway-robber, they contend, is only 
to be daunted by the fear of death from adding 
murder to his other crimes* 



99 



CHAPTER XI. 

CANTONAL RULE. 

Some Cantons rule themselves by means of parlia- 
ments, and some by means of popular votes ; but 
every Canton rules herself. 

About one half the Cantons and Half-cantons 
have no parliaments in the legal sense of words ; 
and thinkers of much weight in democratic 
circles hold that government by means of deputies 
is on the wane — a stage of growth from which 
the world is passing into one of higher form. 

At first, these thinkers say, you have Paternal 
Rule ; then Poyal or Imperial Pule ; then 
Aristocratic or Parliamentary Pule. In what, 
they ask, does government by representatives, 
differ from government by counts and dukes ? 
The voter has a right to choose his master, 
and obey that master's law. He has no right 
to rule himself. Beyond .these methods lies a 
higher law — a final stage of growth — self- 



100 



THE SWITZERS. 



government in its noblest reach and simplest 
form — where every man is legislator, judge, and 
king. 

Four groups are noted in these Swiss re- 
publics : first, a group which claims to be a 
Parliamentary Democracy ; a second group which 
claims to be an Absolute Democracy ; a third 
group which claims to be a Mixed Democracy ; a 
fourth group which claims to be a Pure Democracy. 
In the first group stand Geneva, Vaud, Luzern, 
Fribourg, Aargau, Basel-stadt, SchafYhausen, 
Neufchatel, Ticino. In the second group stand 
Uri, the two Appenzells, the two Unterwaldens, 
Glarus, Schwyz, and Zug. In the third group 
stand Graubunden, Bern, Thurgau, Valais, Basel- 
landj St. Gallen. Zurich stands alone in repre- 
senting pure and perfect government, according 
to the newest democratic lights — where every 
man is legislator, judge, and king. 

In each of the first group of Cantons — that 
of Parliamentary Democracy — a council, called 
the Grand Council, is elected by the voters 
having civil rights ; that is to say, by males 
who have attained the legal age, and have 
not lost their rights by either emigration, 
idiocy, or crime. The voting is by ballot. This 



CANTONAL RULE. 



101 



Grand Council names a smaller body, called a 
State Council ; and these two chambers choose, 
according to a form laid down, a President, who 
bears the title of Avoyer, Landammann, or 
Burgomeister, to conduct the government and 
execute the laws. A meeting of these mem- 
bers is the Cantonal Assembly. From their 
decisions there is no appeal. The three estates 
of President, State Council, and Grand Council, 
exercise the sovereign power. 

Geneva is a fair example of this Parliamentary 
group. In 1847, a movement in the streets, 
which led to some hot fighting round the Hotel de 
Ville, upset the old baronial constitution of 
Geneva, with its close, aristocratic guilds, and 
its restricted public suffrage. Every Genevese, 
male in sex, and twenty- one years old, ac- 
quired a right to vote for members of the Grand 
Council. When he has cast his vote into the 
urn, his functions cease. His Grand Council, 
consisting of one representative for every group 
of six hundred and sixty- six inhabitants, elects 
a State Council of seven persons, who may hold 
their offices ten years, and then are free to 
serve again. Some serve for life ; but any of 
these members may be censured and removed 



102 THE SWITZERS. 

by popular vote in the Grand Council. Such a 
vote is rare. A feudal tone prevails in the State 
Council, in which Antoine Carteret plays a lead- 
ing part. Geneva has a rich and powerful burgher 
class, who claim a lofty ancestry, and talk of 
Conrad's barons as we English boast of William's 
knights. These burghers own the mansion of La 
Treille, the Terrace, and the Rue des Granges. 
Their wealth enables them to live without the 
cares of trade. They give themselves to art and 
books, and send into the world such specimens of 
their order as De Saussure, Neckar, De Candolle, 
and De la Rive. This class is rooted in the soil ; 
and no amount of fighting in the streets can 
reach the rocks from which they grow ; for learn- 
ing, fame, and riches are original elements of 
public power. Geneva, therefore, is a Parlia- 
mentary Democracy, with a list of governing 
families, from which the citizen of twenty, with 
his rifle and his vote, enjoys the faculty of 
choosing who shall rule him at the Hotel de 
Ville. 

In the second group of Cantons — that of Ab- 
solute Democracy — the whole body of registered 
citizens meet in primary assemblies once a-year, 
to choose their magistrates, to quell disputes, 



CANTONAL RULE. 



103 



to vote fresh taxes, to condemn offences and 
offenders, and to pass new laws. This primary 
assembly gathers on a summer Sunday — it is 
always on a Sunday — in some open place — a 
field, a market, or a grove. The voters come 
in arms. Each man is scrutinized by jealous 
eyes, and if his right to vote be challenged 
he must prove it on the spot. Such proof is 
easy to an honest man. What Commune is he 
from ? Who are his witnesses ? A Commune 
is a regiment, divided into companies and sec- 
tions. Every man is counted in the rank and 
file. If any one is absent he is missed ; and an 
intruder on the regiment will find in it no vacant 
place. The Cantonal Assembly is an army, not 
a mob. Unless a man be either pauper, bank- 
rupt, criminal, or tramp, he has a right to vote. 
If he should prove to be a rogue — a fellow with 
no civic rights — it may go ill with him ; the 
rogue is lucky to escape with life and limb. 
These primary assemblies of the Canton are 
extremely picturesque. 

Take Uri as example of this second group. 
The men of Uri, — Catholic and Teutonic shep- 
herds, carriers, guides, inn - keepers, foresters, 
with here and there a chamois - hunter, — give 



104 



THE SWITZERS. 



their franchise into no man's keeping. They 
remember Walter Fiirst and William Tell. At 
every turn they see some record of the times 
when they were crushed like serfs and rose like 
men. What they have won by daring hand they 
mean to hold with sleepless eye. They give no 
council power to make and mend their laws, but 
lodge their sovereign right in the assembled 
Communes. 

Not a rifle shot from Biirglen, in the Schachen 
Thai, where Tell was born, and where his chapel 
stands — beside a bridge across the Schaohen, 
and between the road and river — lies a meadow, 
which for ages past has been a field of council 
for the men of Uri. Once a-year (first Sunday 
in the month of May, while yet the snow is 
often on the ground, and blocks of ice are rolling 
down the Reuss), the Landammann of Uri rides 
from Altdorf with a cavalcade ; some cantonal 
troops with bands of music and the flag — a huge 
bull's head ; some beadles clothed in black and 
yellow; and two ancient Switzers carrying on 
their poles two buflalo-homs, the antique cogni- 
zance of Uri. From the upper Reuss pour down 
the men of Andermatt and Wasen ; through 
the Maderaner Thai come out the men of Bristen 



CANTONAL KULE. 105 

and Stossi ; by the Schachen Thai march in the 
men of Biirglen and Spiringen ; across the Reuss 
arrive the men of Seedorf and Attinghausen. 
Every man in Uri, twenty years of age, and 
wearing neither monkish hood nor priestly frock, 
is bound to show himself this day. A stage is 
thrown up in the council field ; the buffalo- 
horns are raised ; a bugle sounds the assembly ; 
and the Landammann takes his seat. This session 
of a single day begins. An usher reads the 
list of matters to be done. Some regiment 
is to be raised in strength ; a road is to be 
made, a torrent dyked, a forest thinned ; some 
tax is to be laid ; an officer is to be punished ; 
perhaps some law is to be changed. Each orator 
is called upon to speak. His plan is heard 
and judged. The vote is open, given by show 
of hands. One scheme finds favour and another 
not. The losing cause has no appeal. When 
every vote is taken, and the business of the 
day is done, these kings of Uri slake their thirst 
with beer, pull down their stage, and wend their 
several ways towards home with patriotic pipe 
and song. 

Graubiinden is a fair sample of the third 
group ; that of Mixed Democracy. This Canton 



106 



THE SWITZERS. 



is a mixture of original sort ; for out of ancient 
Greece and modern Caucasus, no rival can be 
set against it for varieties of race and creed, of 
law and speech. The country has no name, 
nor is her nickname of the Grisons known at 
Chur. She calls herself Grau-biinden — League of 
Grey Coats ; Gottes-haus biinden — League of 
Holy Church ; Zehn Gerichtes-biinden — League 
of Ten Courts. But half her people never use 
these names. These people are of Celtic race 
and speak a southern tongue. To them the 
leagues are Lia Grischa, Lia de Ca De, and 
Lia dellas desch Dretturas. In and out among 
the pine-woods and cascades, these northern men 
and southern men are mingled ; here a Celtic 
village and a Roman porch, there a Teutonic 
hamlet and a Gothic spire. The Celts are mainly 
Catholic, the Teutons mainly Protestant ; but 
creeds are not defined by boundaries of race and 
speech. Dissentis is Catholic ; Ilanz is Pro- 
testant ; Chur is mixed. The Lutherans of Chur 
are traders living in the lower town ; the 
Romanists are rich proprietors, who dwell within 
the precincts of the Bishop's court. In all, this 
Canton has some forty thousand Catholics to 
fifty thousand Protestants ; but they are too 



CANTONAL RULE. 



107 



much mixed in towns and villages to live apart, 
like Basel-stadt and Basel-land. 

In dropping from the Ober Alp to Chur, you 
pass a line of feudal and ecclesiastical remains ; 
old castles on the heights, old abbeys in the flats ; 
and everywhere you find some trace of ancient 
counts and knights. At Dissentis, you have the 
Benedictine abbey — now a school for boys ; at 
Chur, you find the Convent of St. Lucius, now a 
cantonal school ; at Diem, Castelberg, and Trins, 
you see the ruins of old fortresses ; at Laax and 
Chur, you note old houses, carved with coat and 
shield. 

For ages this wild region was the prey of 
counts and knights, who trampled on the serfs, 
and men who were not serfs, until the villagers 
sprang up, and formed a rustic league in every 
district for defence. These district-leagues ex- 
tended into circles, and while every hamlet chose 
to rule itself, with only scant regard to what 
occurred elsewhere, the pressure of events com- 
pelled the rustics to extend their bands. Three 
greater leagues were formed in time : (1) the Grey 
League (Grau-bunden — from the peasant's home- 
spun), with its seat in Trons ; (2) the Church 
League (Gottes-haus bund), with its seat in Chur ; 



108 



THE SWITZERS. 



and (3) the Ten Courts' League (Zehn Gerichtes- 
biinden), with its seat in Mayenfeld. In name, 
these rustic leagues have past away; but they 
remain in spirit and in fact. The Canton is 
divided into fourteen districts, thirty-nine circles, 
two hundred and five communes. Each circle 
is a separate republic. Chur is called the 
capital ; and here the deputies of the circles meet. 
The Council sits in secret, and conducts the public 
business with unsparing hand. But then these 
deputies have to march in harmony with the 
general will. They must not lay a tax, they 
must not change a law, without the popular 
assent. All matters of importance are remitted 
to the districts, and a public vote of peasants 
may upset the wisest plans conceived in Chur. 

Of Pure Democracy the one example yet is 
Zurich ; and the case of Canton Zurich must be 
treated as a thing apart. 



109 



CHAPTER XII. 

CANTON ZURICH. 

A bright old city on a fresh green lake — white 
houses nestling in the midst of trees ; quaint 
streets, arcades, and spires ; grim minsters look- 
ing down on shop and stall ; wide quays and 
bridges, piers and water-mills ; old convents, walls, 
and towers ; new colleges, hotels, and railway- 
lines ; the records of a thousand years, the 
fancies of a passing day ; a church of Charles the 
Great, a palace of the modern arts * one river 
leading from the lake ; a second river rushing 
from the hills ; around you mounds and crests, 
here rolling outward to the Adlis-berg, there 
straining upward to the Albis chain ; each hill 
with vineyards at her base and village belfry on 
her top ; and in the front, beyond the stretch of 
shining lake, a rugged line of alps, all swathed 
and lit with snow — is Zurich city, capital of 



110 



THE SWITZEBS. 



Ztirich Canton, and a paradise of learning and of 
learned men. 

Some natives speak of Zurich as the Swiss 
Athens ; men who live in books and have their 
hearts inflamed with ancient Greeks. For Zurich is 
the centre of a Switzer's intellectual life. Among 
her literary and artistic circles, she can boast 
academies of art and music; institutes of science 
and of law ; botanic gardens, public libraries and 
museums ; a society of public usefulness ; a Grtitli 
club, an Alpine club, a reading club, a natural- 
history club ; societies of commerce and of agri- 
culture ; many hospitals, retreats, asylums ; a 
society of antiquities ; a public garden on the 
lake ; a theatre ; a temple of freemasons ; many 
Church unions ; and a hundred colleges and 
schools. The University is here ; the Polytech- 
nic is here ; the anatomical school is here ; the 
cantonal schools and burgher schools are here. Yon 
shining edifice on the slope, above the Heretics 
Tower, is a palace of the practical arts. This block 
abutting on the minster is the ladies' school. 
Those buildings in the tulip-trees are secondary 
schools. In the Virgin's quarter, near the Town 
Hall, stand the city schools for boys. On every 
side, in almost every street, you find a school ; a 



CANTON ZUKICH. 



Ill 



primary school, a secondary school, a supple- 
mentary school ; day schools, evening schools ; 
schools for the blind ; schools for the deaf and 
dumb (all models of their kind) ; industrial 
schools, commercial schools, linguistic schools : 
yes, schools of every sort and size, excepting 

s actual pauper schools. For Canton Zurich has no 
paupers born and bred ; no paupers known and 
labelled as a class apart. Some poor she has ; but 
they are few in number ; not, as with ourselves, a 
state within the State. 

A prosperous country stretches round the city 
and reflects her life ; a Canton small in size com- 
pared with Bern, Graubtinden, Vaud, and Yalais ; 
but teeming with a brave, enduring race ; a people 
/ full of labour, song, and fight ; a little rough in 

• speech and hard in style, as men who know 
their worth are apt to be ; yet patient in 
their strength, disposed to work with nature, 
not against her laws. The land is lovely in 
itself, and made more lovely still by art. Fair 
lakes are brightened by the works of man ; by 
latteen sail and puff of silver cloud, no less than 
by the cheery range of garden, chalet, wood, and 
spire. Low hills are tamed to vineyards, while 
the higher grounds are fat with fruit. Above 



112 



THE SWITZERS. 



these knolls, on which the grapes and medlars 
seem to ripen against nature, start the bergs and 
spits all green with wood ; and straining up their 
sides, and flowing from their feet, broad belts of 
pasture land, on which vast herds of cattle range to 
browse. So far as art can reach, these mountain 
slopes are cleared and fenced for use. A craft, a 
will, a strength, but seldom seen in man s affairs, 
are noted in this Canton ; not in one part only, and 
in one thing only, but in every part and every 
thing alike. The climate is not good. The average 
warmth is lower than in Kent. Sharp winds 
sweep down the gullies and across the lake. Yon 
peaks are noted for their wintry storms, and one 
great breadth of alp in front of Zurich bears the 
name of Windgelle — screaming wind. The soil 
is poor and gritty ; three parts pounded rock 
to one part vegetable mould. Yet when the best is 
made of it, how much that best can do ! Observe 
the peasant's shed, the pastor's porch, the farmer's 
field : how clean that shed, how bright that porch, 
how orderly that field ! You see no heaps of 
mess, you smell no hidden filth. Each article is 
in its place ; and order reigns by virtue of some 
natural law. These roads are wide, these bridges 
strong, these waters fenced. The snows melt 



CANTON ZUEICH. 



113 



rapidly in Canton Zurich ; yet the floods, being 
guided and contained by dykes, roll down their 
beds, and through their overflows, without much 
hurt ; while in some neighbouring and neglected 
Cantons they are dashing mills to pieces, drown- 
ing goats and sheep, and tearing forests from the 
ground. In small things and in great you find 
these proofs of active thought and ready hand. 
Just peep into this bit of ground; a common 
garden, with the usual herbs and roots, the usual 
flowers and seeds. Each bed, each tree, each 
plant, is treated by itself, as though it were 
a child. Observe how every branch is pruned, 
how every leek is watered, and how every 
gourd is trained. You need not marvel at the 
cherries on that tree. Here in the corner climbs 
a vine. The summer heat is on her leaves, 
and what a promise of the blood-red grapes to 
come ! 

The country all round Zurich is a garden, 
watered by innumerable springs and lakes. These 
springs and lakes are trained, with Oriental craft, 
to flow about the orchards and potato-fields. 
Though mostly built of stone, the farms are 
painted of a cheery yellow, pink, and white. These 
walks are planted, and these roads well kept. Each 

i 



114 



THE SwTTZERS. 



house appears to stand in its own grounds. No 
poor are to be seen about the roads, save here and 
there some Swabian tramp, some Savoy beggar, 
or some pilgrim to St. Meinrad's cell. No Ziiricher 
is homeless ; hardly any Ziiricher is poor. In 
driving on these roads, you hear at every turn the 
song of life and w^ork — the woodman felling trees, 
the milkmaid bringing home her pail, the cobbler 
stitching at his stall, the miller grinding at his 
wheel — all chirping at their task the live-long 
day. The secret of this gracious look of things 
in Canton Zurich is, that every man enjoys an 
independent place. 

These labourers have an interest in the soil 
they till. No ballast for a man like that of having 
a little earth — his own — about his feet. These 
rustics own the cottages in w T hich they live — the 
ground on which they toil. Though peasants 
born and bred, they understand their rights. 
They have been long at school, and know the 
history of their canton and their country. Every 
man among- them has been taught his civic duties 
— has been schooled and drilled into a man. 
A child, he conned his lessons in the Virgin's 
quarter of the town ; a youth, he marched and 
wheeled on the parade : a man, he casts his vote 



CANTON ZURICH. 



115 



in the electoral urn, and scores his bull's eye 
at the Wollis Hofen butts. 

Each peasant owns, besides his house and field, 
a rifle and a vote. 

No sleepy hollow, where a shepherd feeds his 
flock, a craftsman plies his trade, without one 
thought beyond the summer heat and winter 
cold, is Canton Zurich; but a fierce and busy 
agora, in which all news are searched, all ques- 
tions put, all answers canvassed in their length 
and depth. The heat of life is felt in every 
vein. All forces here seem vital forces ; pulse 
and brain beat time together ; and the hearts of 
men dilate with the abounding tides. Democracy 
is not a name — a form of words — a label on a 
book of laws ; it is a fact. Each unit in 
the body politic is a living force. At dawn, 
a man gets up to work ; while sitting at his 
loom he thinks ; some grievance in the code 
arrests him ; he imparts his fancy to a neigh- 
bour ; in a week a new discussion may arise. 
A thousand projects agitate men's minds, and 
keep them in a state of civic health ; from 
Federal questions down to Communal questions, 
and from problems of the church and state 
to trifles of the streets and stalls. But 



116 



THE SWITZERS. 



most of all, men talk and fight about political 
forms. 

In one sense, Canton Zurich is conservative. 
She clings with limpet-like tenacity to her main 
ideas — -her republican faith, her Federal duty, 
her religious life; but in a lower plane she is 
of revolutionary cities the most revolutionary. 
Every twenty years, or so, she sets about revising 
her fundamental pact. Men yet living can re- 
member five or six fundamental laws in Zurich, 
from the semi-feudal constitution overthrown in 
1831, to the new and perfect system of democracy 
set up in 1869. 

Some forty years ago, some Feudal families in 
Zurich, boasting of descent from ancient vogts 
and bailiffs, held the whip ; an aristocracy of 
wealth and learning, fenced about with privilege 
and immunity, and holding by the right of birth 
all avenues to political power. By a set of public 
movements, and with scarcely any bloodshed in 
her streets, these Feudal families were displaced. 
It is the genius of the Zuricher to gain his ends 
by short and easy steps. A man of order, he 
contents himself with action hi the polling- 
booths. One day he gains a point ; another 
day he gains a point. In time his revolution 



CANTON ZURICH. 



117 



has been made, and public order has not been 
disturbed. 

The University was in the lower town, in old 
monastic lodgings, dreary, small, and dark. The 
Liberals wished to plant it out on open ground, 
in sunshine, on the crest, where every eye could 
catch a glimpse of it. The Feudalists would have 
no change ; the Liberals beat them, and the Uni- 
versity was removed. 

Old walls and towers surrounded, cramped, 
and closed the town. The Liberals wished to 
pull them down, to let in air and light, to 
build a railway station near the city gates, to 
fill the ditch, and turn the glacis into terraces 
and schools. The Feudalists opposed this 
change ; the Liberals beat them, and the walls 
came down, excepting only two or three old 
towers retained as picturesque memorials of the 
past. 

The constitution was too feudal in its character 
to please a democratic people holding guns and 
votes. A public meeting was convened in 1867 
to ask for a revision. What the Liberals wanted 
was a more direct relation of the voters to the 
government ; a right to choose the State Council 
as well as the Grand Council ; a veto on financial 



118 



THE SWITZERS. 



projects ; and a larger influence over church and 
school. The Feudalists protested ; but the Libe- 
rals beat them on appeal, and then the Cantonal 
constitution was revised, 



119 



CHAPTER XIII. 

PURE DEMOCRACY. 

In the Pure Democracy set up by her new con- 
stitution, Zurich left behind her old principle of 
Parliamentary Rule, and ceased, so far as Cantonal 
objects are concerned, to be a representative state. 
Her government is now direct. The people name 
then" officers ; the people choose their judges ; 
and the people make their laws. The deputies 
are clerks; not kings. Each voter has a share, 
direct and visible, in public acts. He hires a 
servant, in his deputy, to report on such and such 
a case, and draft a bill in such and such a sense. 
But he invests this servant with no plenary 
powers. In all affairs of consequence he gives his 
vote with his own hand and tongue. He only is 
the sovereign prince, and in his sphere he only 
reigns and rules. 

In front of the new constitution of Canton 
Zurich stand these words : — ' The People of 



120 



THE SWITZERS. 



Canton Zurich, in the exercise of their sovereign 
rights, give themselves the following constitution/ 

Sixty-five articles succeed in groups. 

The first group — articles 1 to 18 — deal with 
Political Principles. 

1. The public power resides in the whole body 
of citizens, not in any part of it. This public 
power is used directly by all citizens having civic 
rights ; and indirectly by such citizens as may 
be either chosen officers of state, or hired as 
servants of the State. 

2. All citizens are equal, in a legal and 
political sense, unless deprived by law of civil 
and political rights. Article 18 defines the causes 
for suspending civil and political rights, as lunacy, 
degrading crime, fraudulent bankruptcy, and re- 
ceipt of public alms. 

3. Speech is free ; printing is free. The 
right of meeting and associating is guaranteed. 
No limit can be put upon this freedom of 
speaking, printing, meeting, and associating, other 
than such as springs from the rights enjoyed by 
all. A true statement, published with an honest 
motive, is not to be regarded as a libel by the 
courts of law. 

4. The State defends all honest private 



PURE DEMOCRACY. 



121 



rights. The State may seize in case of public 
need ; but compensation must be given ; the 
details settled in the proper courts. 

5. The punishment of death is abolished. 
Chains and manacles are forbidden in the public 
jails. The criminal laws are to be softened. 

7. A man's personal liberty is secured. No 
man may be arrested save on proper warrants, as 
prescribed by special laws. Imprisonment for debt 
is abolished. No means of forcing a confession 
are allowed. The state must satisfy in money 
any injury done to a citizen by false arrest. 

8. A man's house is his castle, only to be 
entered either by his own consent or by a legal 
writ. This legal writ must specify the. object of 
the visitation, and the extent to which it may 
be carried. In case of public danger these re- 
strictions are not binding ; but the officers must 
answer for their acts. 

10. Every public functionary is responsible 
to the Canton and the city, as well as to private 
persons, in accordance with the law. 

11. No office can be held for life. Authorities 
must be renewed in block and not in parts. 
Father and son, two brothers, father-in-law and 
son-in-law, two brothers-in-law, may not serve 



122 



THE SWITZERS. 



together on any administrative board, nor on any 
judicial bench. A member of the Council is 
chosen for three years. An officer is chosen, and 
a functionary is appointed, for three years. A 
judge is named for six years ; and a notary for 
the same. 

13. Election of officers is by ballot, whether 
the election is in Canton or in city. Munici- 
palities may also use this form of voting. 

14. Settlement is free. Any Switzer, on 
performing certain legal acts, may fix himself in 
any place, and get the local rights of citizenship. 
A Commune can only charge a moderate enter- 
ing fee. No higher taxes can be levied on a 
stranger than on natives. A refusal to admit 
a claimant must be justified by evidence that 
his ways of life are dangerous to public morals. 
If a settler is expelled, this act of rigour must 
be justified by evidence that his presence is a 
danger to the State. 

15. Civil marriage and clerical marriage are 
placed on the same legal ground. No fees are 
to be paid to either pastor, priest, or mayor. 

16. A man enters on the enjoyment of his 
civic right with the close of his twentieth year. 
These civil rights include the faculty of contracting 



PURE DEMOCRACY. 



123 



debts, of voting at elections, and of serving in 
any public office. 

A second group — Articles 19 to 27 — deal 
with Economical Principles. 

19. Every one must pay his rates. Com- 
munal and burgher property is taxed. An income- 
tax and property-tax are laid on an ascending 
scale. Small fortunes are exempt. The tax on 
property may be doubled on the greater income. 
Lands and goods inherited are taxed on a pro- 
gressive scale, according to the distance of re- 
lationship and to the sum bequeathed. Large 
fortunes are abominable in a pure democracy. 
No corporate body is exempt. The tax on salt 
is to be lowered. No fresh tax of any kind is to 
be put on common articles of food. 

21. All crafts are open, saving in so far as 
they are limited by law. Any one can practise 
a profession. Art, science, industry, and trade 
are free to all. 

22. The Communes have charge of the poor ; 
the State assists in case of need. 

23. The State approves and aids co-operative 
societies, resting on the principle of self-help. 
Laws are made for the protection of working 
men. 



124 



THE SWITZERS. 



25. The State assists the Communes to repair 
the roads. 

26. The State controls all railway lines. 

27. The State provides an outfit for the men 
who join the Cantonal flag. 

A third group — articles 28 to 36 — deals with 
Popular Rights. 

28. The people, with the help of the Cantonal 
Council, chosen by themselves, assume the legis- 
lative power. 

The people vote on every bill proposed to 
them, and either make it law or cast it off. 
From this decision there is no appeal. The 
people have a right to offer measures for debate. 
The people may demand — first, the passing of a 
new law ; second, the amendment of an old law ; 
third, the full and absolute cancel of a law. 
These rights are to be used according to the 
legal forms. 

A single person may propose a bill, and 
send it to the Cantonal Council ; if a third 
part of that Council should support his view; 
the subject must be laid before the people for 
decision. When a private person sends a question 
to the Cantonal Council for debate, he has a 
right to come before that Council to explain 



PURE DEMOCRACY. 



125 



his views, if twenty-five members think he should 
be heard. 

Five thousand voters may insist on putting 
any question to a popular vote. A number 
of Communal meetings, representing five thou- 
sand voters, may insist. The Cantonal Council 
must return their question on the paper. 
No delay will be allowed. In every case the 
Cantonal Council have the right to offer an 
opinion on the bill proposed, and, if they 
choose, may place before the people a counter- 
project of their own. 

30. A popular vote takes place in every spring 
and autumn. Every act must be submitted to 
the popular will. No act is legal till it has 
been sanctioned by this public poll. In urgent 
cases, the Cantonal Council may propose to take 
an extra vote. The Council may submit a bill 
in one of two forms, either as a whole, or part 
by part. The voting is by ballot in each Com- 
mune ; every citizen is bound to cast his card 
into the box. A man must answer, Yea or Nay. 
All matters to be voted on must be printed 
and dispersed a month before the poll is held. 
An absolute majority of voices makes or mars. 

31. The Cantonal Council shape the public 



126 



THE SWITZERS. 



bills, command the public force (except so far 
as it is under Federal obligation), execute the 
laws, elect their officers, and exercise the right 
of mercy. 

32. A Councillor, as public officer, receives 
a daily stipend, with a sum of money for 
expenses. 

36. The two members of the State Council 
who are sent to Bern must be elected by the 
people, forming for this Federal act a single 
district. The members of the National Council 
who are also sent to Bern must be elected (as 
they were under the old constitution) by the 
people, forming for this purpose a single district. 
These two elections must be held at the same 
time. The service of these Federal delegates is 
for three years. 

A fourth group — articles 37 to 55 — deals 
with the Administration. 

37. The Executive Power consists of seven 
members, called a Council of Government. 
These governors are elected by the people, form- 
ing one electoral district, at the same time with 
the Cantonal Council. 

38. These seven governors appoint a President 
and a Vice-president for a year. 



PURE DEMOCRACY. 



127 



39. No man having an appointment with 
a fixed salary can be a governor. 

41. The governors appoint a public pro- 
secutor. 

A fifth group — articles 56 to 61 — deals with 
Crime and Justice. 

56. A judgment of the law-courts cannot 
be set aside. The Cantonal Council have the 
power of mercy ; but the administration cannot 
modify the verdict given. Political crimes, in- 
cluding press offences, must be tried by jury. 
Courts of arbitration are allowed. 

A public officer is charged with process in 
a case of debt. 

A sixth group — articles 62 to 64 — deals with 
Public Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs. 

62. The general education of the people, 
and the republican education of the citizens, 
is the business of the State. In order to in- 
crease the professional and productive power 
of all classes, the Cantonal schools are to be 
extended and improved. The training must 
be better, and the period of instruction longer. 
The Universities and colleges are to be brought 
into more perfect harmony with modern life. 
Their scientific character must be retained ; and 



128 



THE SWITZERS. 



they must be connected in their courses with 
the Cantonal schools. 

Primary instruction is obligatory and gra- 
tuitous. The State, together with the Com- 
munes, will supply the funds. The Communes 
have the management of primary schools, assisted 
by a district School Board. 

63. Liberty of faith, of worship, and of 
teaching, is established. Civil rights and civil 
duties have no dependence on religious creeds. 
No force (as excommunication) can be used 
against communities or individuals. The Na- 
tional Church (that is to say, the Evangelical 
Church), and other religious corporations, rule 
themselves within the law and under the supreme 
control of the State. 

64. The Church Communes elect their own 
pastors, and the School Communes their own 
teachers. The State endows the pastors, and 
she pays a portion of the teachers salary. 
These pastors and these teachers are elected 
to their functions for a term of six years; at 
the end of which they may be re-elected if 
the people choose. This rule applies to the 
Romanist Communes, not less than to the Evan- 
gelical Communes. 



PURE DEMOCRACY. 



129 



The seventh group — article 65 — deals with 
the subject of any future revision of the con- 
stitution. It is provided that the people may 
at any time, according to the legal mode, revise 
this fundamental pact, either in the mass or in 
any of the parts. 



K 



130 



CHAPTER XIV. 

A REVOLUTION. 

In the struggles of the Radical party with the 
Feudal party, following the adoption of this pact, 
Johannes Sieber, until then a man unknown, came 
quickly to the front, took up the popular flag, 
and made himself at once a type of the new era. 
and an incarnation of the radical cause. 

Johannes Sieber was the master of a village- 
school at Uster, on the Greifen lake, some dozen 
miles from Zurich. Uster was a feudal hamlet, 
now it is a weaving station. On the knoll above 
the weavers' houses rise the remnants of a castle, 
which are turned to use as court-house, jail, 
and inn. A tower, on which the weavers 
drink their beer, commands the lake below, 
and in the distance sweeps the peaks and crests 
of Schwyz. Near by a group of factories 
frets the sky, and smoking chimneys overtop 
both feudal tower and Gothic spire. In Uster, 



A REVOLUTION. 



131 



Sieber was employed in teaching rustics how to 
read and sing. Like nearly all his class he was 
a politician of advancing views. His school was 
in the shadow of that ancient pile ; a living 
proof that victory is with the popular cause. 
He was no learned pundit ; he had taken no 
degree ; but he was full of speech and pluck ; 
and, more than all, he had the sense to see that 
this great struggle of the popular and conservative 
parties turned upon the public schools. 

'You see the fruit, but not the root/ my 
host explains to me, as we are driving past the 
Cantonal schools ; ' these youngsters streaming 
from the steps are like the vines on yonder 
wall ; they flourish in our soil, but draw their 
being from a distant source. We Switzers are 
not poets and inventors ; we are homely folk ; 
but then we know a good thing when we see 
it, and are quick to try if it will suit us. I 
am not an old man yet ; but in my youth you 
might have passed from Basel to Ticino and 
not have seen a decent public school/ 

' You have not let the grass grow where 
you tread/ 

' Not only is our scheme of State instruction 
new, it is Germanic, and not Latin, in its origin, 



132 



THE SWITZEES. 



its spirit, and its plan. We date our university 
in Zurich from an early time ; but in that early 
time the church was always in a teacher's mind. 
A teacher seldom thought of civil life. He 
was a priest ; he wished to make his pupils 
priests. His school was part of some religious 
house ; some priory, some abbey, where the ruler 
was in holy orders. His instruction was devoted 
to a single purpose. Priests required some let- 
ters, and they got some. Girls required no 
letters, and they got none. Females had no 
chance of learning how to read and write, except 
through private means and at enormous cost. 
A man who wished his girls to learn was forced 
to hire a priest and lodge him in his house.' 

' The change came on, you think, with the 
revolt from Rome V 

' With Martin Luther. Rome was pagan in 
her spirit. She would never give her system of 
instruction to all classes. Luther was our source 
of civic life. He was the first to claim that public 
teaching should extend to all ; to rich and poor, 
to male and female, and to bond and free. Yes, 
Luther is the father of democracy. He, more 
than any Switzer, shaped our politics and framed 
our laws.' 



A REVOLUTION. 133 

In England, Luther's efforts in the cause of 
education are not known so well as his attacks 
on Home. He meant to build a new world on 
the ruins he was making ; and the world he 
wished to raise was one of right and reason, not 
of simple trust. He wanted men to read and 
think, assured that men who read and think will 
never drop into a stagnant faith. All men, he 
therefore said, must learn to read. It is the 
business of society to see that none fall off and 
lose their souls for lack of light. He taught the 
two great doctrines of the democratic party — that 
female education is of equal moment to the State 
with male, and that the State should force all 
citizens to attain a certain grade in either public 
schools or private schools. 

' The fruit is here, the root is yonder/ says 
my host. ' We know the truth ; our system is 
Germanic ; and we feed it daily from the parent 
source. Although we are a nation of school- 
masters — Pestalozzi was born in Zurich — yet our 
leading lights are German. Pestalozzi, Fellen- 
berg, and other Switzers have been great in de- 
tail, not in principle. Our great reformers come 
from the original source. We start with Luther, 
and we end with Sclierr.' 



134 



THE SWITZERS. 



Scherr — who is Scherr, some reader asks, that 
he should stand in line with Luther ? Scherr is 
not a man of name, and yet his work was good 
and he performed it well. In Zurich he- is dearly 
loved. As Luther gave to public teaching a popu- 
lar spirit, Scherr endowed it with a popular form. 
Scherr is the actual founder of the system now 
prevailing in Canton Zurich ; and in no slight 
measure is the author, of her wealth, intelligence, 
and fame. She loves him all the more that she 
was cruel to him while he lived, and torn with 
anguish for him when he died. 

Born in the small village of Hohenrechberg, in 
the kingdom of Wiirtemberg, Thomas Scherr re- 
ceived his training in the public school, and feel- 
ing a vocation for the teacher's office, studied 
pedagogy as an art, and got appointed to a desk. 
His fame soon spread abroad; for he was not a 
teacher only, but a special teacher, with ideas of 
his own. Promoted to the mastership of a deaf- 
and-dumb institution, he arrested wide attention 
by his plan for teaching mutes to speak. At 
twenty-four he came to Zurich, where the state 
of education was below the mark. Here he got 
appointed to the Blind School, which he tho- 
roughly reformed, and with such full approval of 



A REVOLUTION. 



135 



the city that the Government increased his school 
by adding to it a department for the deaf and 
dumb, in order that his theories of teaching might 
be fully tried. Before that day — the time was 
1825 to 1836 — all teachers of the deaf and dumb 
had been content with the opinion of De TEpee 
and the Abbe Sicard, that the only way to teach 
a mute is by the hand. Watson in England, 
Heinicke in Germany, Clerc in the United States, 
were followers of that method. Scherr had other 
thoughts. No man, he found, is naturally 
mute. A child is dumb because he is first deaf, 
and does not hear articulate sounds. But may 
he not be taught articulation through the eye ? 
Scherr thought he might. He dropped the finger- 
alphabet, and tried to teach his pupils to articu- 
late in letters, syllables, and words. Articulate 
sounds are formed by breathing through the 
lips and teeth, along the palate and the tongue, 
and all the movements of these organs, while the 
sounds are issuing, may be seen. A little care 
and patience, and the pupil imitates these move- 
ments, and acquires the gift of speech. A double 
end is gained ; for while he learns the art of 
breathing words, he also learns the art of reading 
them. A class of mutes who can distinguish 



136 



THE SWITZERS. 



what the master says can also trace the accents 
on each others lips — by sight. The power of 
interchanging thought, if not so rapid as in men 
with all their senses, is complete. A great success 
attended Scherr. Some pupils learned to speak 
with ease, and many learned to speak a bit. In 
six years he had made his ground so sure that, 
when the Canton wished to frame a better code, 
he was elected to the Education Council, and 
intrusted by that Council with the task of draw- 
ing up a general law. 

Public codes are common now, for every 
Canton in the League has framed a public code ; 
but in the days of Scherr such things were new 
and strange, and the Feudal party, urged by 
Dr. Bluntschli (one of the aristocrats whose 
ancestors had governed Zurich long before she 
joined the Forest Cantons), led the innovator an 
uneasy life. 

Scherr wished this business of education to 
be made a business of the State. He held that 
every one should go to school, that every village 
should provide a school, that every citizen should 
take his share in managing a school, and that the 
parents should be pressed to visit and inspect the 
school. He wished to see the school a home, and 



A REVOLUTION. 



137 



hoped to call the family spirit to his help. To 
him no subject was so serious as the school. He 
meant the world to see things as he saw them ; 
and he hoped by means of public festivals to 
bring the highest interests of the Canton on the 
public schools. 

One part of his reform the Canton put in force 
without delay. The want of Zurich was the want 
of Europe — teachers who were fit to teach. Ex- 
cept in Germany, no such artists in tuition could 
be found ; and Scherr proposed to found a training 
college near the city, where selected youths, of 
either sex, might be instructed in this difficult 
and important art. 

Four miles from Zurich city, on a slip of vine- 
yard mirrored in the waters, stands the pretty 
thorpe of Kusnacht. In this pretty thorpe his 
training college was erected. Three years later 
Kusnacht was a place of name and fame, and 
men from every part of Europe flocked to see 
the master at his work. An impetus was given 
to teaching in all countries ; more than all in the 
Teutonic Cantons of the League. As teacher, 
Scherr was very great. His lessons on the forms 
of speech, and on the graces of expression, were 
remarkable for neatness, brilliancy, and point. 



138 



THE SWITZERS. 



With boys and girls he had a vast success ; his 
manner was convincing, and his power of illus- 
tration and comparison was endless. Scherr was 
happy in his work, and all, except the Feudal 
party, who were open enemies of public educa- 
tion, were extremely proud of Scherr. 

The wider grew his fame, the sharper grew 
his pain. A cry rose up against him that he 
wished to ruin trade by driving every boy and 
girl to school. A hundred manufacturers de- 
clared that they would have to close their shops. 
They could not carry on their works. Their 
industry would perish, and their capital be lost. 
If Scherr were suffered to go on they must re- 
move their mills to Cantons where such fools 
were not allowed to tamper with the laws of 
trade. They might be driven away to France. 

Scherr answered that the city was extending 
on all sides ; five hundred new houses were being 
built ; the streets were cleaner, quieter than of 
yore ; the port was filled with an increasing fleet 
of boats ; and thousands of foreign artisans were 
coming to the town for work. New public build- 
ings were commenced ; the ancient walls were 
overthrown; new terraces and gardens rose on 
either side the lake. New book-shops opened. 



A REVOLUTION. 



139 



Singing-clubs were formed. A theatre was built. 
Some fine hotels were added to the town. The 
Dom was put into repair. A higher spiritual 
plane was reached. 

The Feudal party were convicted, not con- 
vinced ; and when the next reflux of passion 
brought them into power, they wreaked their 
hatred on the man, although they were not strong 
enough to stay his work. Scherr died in exile 
from the Canton he had made his own. 

Johannes Sieber seized the golden chance. 
A master of a school like Scherr, he found the 
liberal sentiment was with his class. The name 
and cause of Scherr were dear to all ; and Sieber 
wrote that name, that cause, upon his flag. The 
Liberals took him for their leader, and the fight 
being won, they carried him from his desk at 
Uster into Government House in Zurich, where 
he holds, under the Pure Democracy, the two 
chief offices of this Canton — President of the 
Council, and Director of the Education Board. 



140 



CHAPTEE XV. 

POPULAR VICTORIES. 

Some articles in the newest Zurich code arrest 
the eye at once, as being the latest phase of 
democratic hope and faith. Two points have 
been established in this fundamental pact: — (l) 
the Relation of the People to the State, and (2) 
the Relation of the People to the Church. 

The people have assumed all powers. Great 
Councils and State Councils are no longer what 
they were, and party government is swept away. 
No parliaments meet to choose the rulers and to 
make the laws. Canton Zurich is herself a par- 
liament. These Zurich people choose their 
governors as American people choose their presi- 
dents — by one direct and universal vote. Seven 
governors are elected at a single poll. A 
governor can only stay three years in office ; he 
must then retire ; and it is not supposed that 



POPULAR VICTORIES. 



141 



he will stand again. The spirit of the pact is 
change. 

In the sphere of legislation this reserve of 
powers is more complete than in the sphere of 
government. No act is valid till the people have 
pronounced then verdict. In theory this refer- 
ence to the people (Referendum) is a kind of veto, 
like the vetos exercised in monarchies by kings 
and queens ; in practice it is something more 
than kings and queens can claim. The right is 
absolute and imperious. A right of veto is no 
more than that of raising an objection, more or 
less, of days or months. It gives no power to 
modify a bill ; it gives no power to substitute a 
bill. It is a pure negation. But a Zurich voter 
is an autocrat. He has a right, not only to 
reject, but to propose. He may suggest a bill ; 
and, by assent of certain of his fellows, can insist 
on having his proposal laid before the Canton. 
Every Ztlricher enjoying civil rights is a member 
of the national parliament, by which his rulers 
are elected and his laws are made. A Zuricher 
is commoner, peer, and kmg in one. 

More curious than this reference to the 
people in affairs of state, is the position taken 
up by pure democracy towards the church. 



142 



THE SW1TZERS. 



In England, France, and Italy, the radicals 
are mostly — though not all — in favour of a 
thorough separation of the church and state ; 
but such is not a Ziiricher's idea; for in this 
republic men perceive, not only that religion is 
a part of public life, but that the church is 
an integral portion of the state. To drive the 
church away from the state is not to over- 
throw the church. These Switzers understand 
that a state church is a Lay church. To cast 
away the church as something alien to the 
state and civil life, is to abandon all control 
of the most vital force and passion in the human 
heart. 

These radicals hold on, therefore, to the doc- 
trine of a National Church. Being Evangelical 
iu opinion, they declare the Evangelical Church 
to be the National Church. All forms of worship 
are allowed ; all forms of worship recognized 
by the Canton are endowed ; all congregations 
regulate their own affairs, within the law 
and under state control. Each Commune 
chooses her own priest and pastor for a term 
of years. 

A church so ruled presents to them the very 
model of a national and democratic church. 



POPULAR VICTORIES. 



143 



When Sieber, carried into office on the crests 
of this pacific revolution, came to live at Govern- 
ment House, he found himself opposed by two 
strong parties in the city ; first, the Feudalists, 
whom he had beaten at the poll, and the Pro- 
fessors, whom his victory seemed to threaten in 
their chairs. 

In Radical creeds no article is held with firmer 
faith than that which says, no public office should 
be held for life. In every Canton of Switzerland 
this article is urged against appointments in the 
pulpits and the schools, no less than in the 
principal offices of state. If you would have 
the best men in the best places, say the Radi- 
cals, you must change them often. Sieber, as 
a Radical leader, sent to Government House in 
order to complete the changes introduced into 
the Cantonal code, proposed a bill to amend 
the laws appointing teachers and professors to 
their posts. 

The old laws gave such posts for life, without 
regard to changes in the men, the methods, and 
the means. No reason, say the Radicals, can 
be given for such a rule, which came into existence 
through the church and not the state. The doc- 
trine, once a priest always a priest, implied, once 



144 



THE SWITZERS. 



a teacher always a teacher, while the teacher and 
the priest were one. But now that rule is changed ; 
a priest is not a teacher, and a teacher not a priest. 
A layman has no sacred privilege to plead. He is 
a man, as every citizen is a man ; and what was 
suffered in the cleric, who received his mandate 
from a spiritual power, need not be suffered in 
the laic, who derives his mandate from a tem- 
poral power. All liberal Ziirichers desire a 
change, not only for the public good, but for 
the good of teachers and professors. But the 
teachers and professors are of different minds 
respecting Sieber's plan. The teachers are in 
favour of a change, and Sieber is no other than 
their mouthpiece on the Board. No art, they 
urge, stands still, and that of teaching is a swiftly 
growing art. From Fellenberg to Scherr the dis- 
tance is immense. A man who holds his post for 
life has no inducement to excel; good teachers 
have no chance against bad teachers ; and im- 
provements in the method have to wait for years. 
They, therefore, pray the Council to declare by 
law that every desk and chair in Zurich shall be 
held for some fixed term of years — say two years, 
four years, six years — and shall then be filled 
again by public choice. Who can question the 



POPULAR VICTORIES. 



145 



sincerity of persons pleading for reform against 
their seeming interests ? All these teachers held 
their posts for life. Their prayer is granted, 
and the teachers will in future hold their desks 
six years. At every term a fresh election 
must take place; and every teacher in the 
Canton hails this verdict as a victory for his 
class. 

The great professors take another line. These 
learned persons live on higher planes, and have 
no personal objects to attain by public strife. 
Eogaged in work which will not perish with the 
hour, they turn with some disdain from what is 
passing in the streets, to ask of what is new 
in Bunsen s crucible and what is written in the 
latest book by Mill. They live in their own 
world — a high, serene, and prosperous world for 
them — well fed, well housed, and easy in their 
minds. Not so the teachers of a lower grade. 
A teacher, with a cottage, garden-plot, and thirty 
pounds a-year ; his home an alpine valley, with 
no outlet to the world ; his fortune, like his 
home, without a second hope ; is likely to be 
swayed by popular passions, to indulge in dreams, 
to fancy he has wrongs, to enter into contests 
which excite his blood, and, if successful, bring 

L 



146 



THE SWITZERS. 



him to the front. A great professor cannot rise. 
He is a duke ; he walks in purple ; nay, he 
wears the crown. To be elected on the Council 
would be loss of rank. What a republic can do 
for such men as Kinkel, Vogelin, Gusserow, Behn- 
Eschenburg, and others, has been done. A 
teacher, like Johannes Sieber, fagging in his 
village school at Uster, finds that public life 
has many charms and chances. What has such 
a man to lose ? What he may gain is proved. 
A village teacher may become a Governor, may 
preside at Council meetings, and may live at 
Government House. 

Such rising of the lower ranks against the 
higher is regarded by the University men with an 
unfriendly eye. ' Good sort of man, this Sieber/ 
they remark, ( if he would only keep his place ; 
but a Director of the Board of Education — why, 
the fellow has not taken his degree ! ' When 
Sieber comes to live at Government House, the 
great professors whisper to each other, ' Why, 
this fellow wants to be our master, and he has 
not taken his degree ! J The fact is certain, and 
the learned men wax high in wrath. 

Much trouble grows between the city and 
the University. For several years a course of 



POPULAR VICTORIES. 147 

winter lectures has been given by great pro- 
fessors in the city hall ; a course on special 
subjects, treated in a popular style. These lec- 
tures have been well received; the public pay 
six francs a seat to hear them ; the city lend the 
hall ; the lecturer gives his service ; and the money 
taken at the doors is paid in lump to the authori- 
ties of the University and Polytechnic for the 
adornment of their common pile. Much painting 
on the walls, and many figures in the niches, are 
required to clothe the public rooms with beauty ; 
and the funds which come from lecturing keep an 
artist at this work. Last winter this delightful 
course was stopped, to the regret of every class 
alike — professor, citizen, and stranger in the town. 
When men like Kinkel lecture on the arts, when 
men like Keller lecture on the water-folk, the 
world is glad to hear them, and the course is 
sure to pay. Why are they stopped ? ' It is 
the war in France/ says one ; ' It is the small- 
pox/ says another. There is something in the 
air ; the moon comes nearer to the earth ; the 
spheres are out of tune ; the pulse of party life 
is strong ; men cannot act together ; and the 
city and the University retire into their several 
camps. But time has laid this strife ; and 



148 



THE SWITZERS. 



in these present winter months the learned men 
have stooped once more from their Olympian 
heights. 

The fact is, they are beating Sieber and the 
democrats. Unlike the teachers, these professors 
will not yield on what the new and pure re- 
public holds to be a cardinal doctrine — that of 
short appointments to all public seats. Some 
hate this principle of Reference to the People ; 
but the matter does not touch them cfosely, and 
they yield to it with some reserve. Subjecting 
chairs of Greek and Hebrew, chemistry and ma- 
thematics, to a popular vote, renewed from time 
to time, appears to them absurd. This demo- 
cratic principle is applied at the Polytechnic, 
where the chairs are only held six years. The 
great professors fear it may invade the University, 
and empty half the higher seats. They will not 
yield to Sieber s project, and the Radical party, 
rather than disturb a University which is their 
noblest pride, consent to strike this article out 
of Sieber's bill. 

Amended so far, Sieber s bill is law. Professors 
in the University are the only officers of the new 
republic, who retain their posts for life. On every 
other class- — on Pastor, President, Captain, Coun- 



POPULAR VICTORIES. 



149 



cillor — the new and pure republic exercises sove- 
reign power. Each officer must yield his place, 
and take his chances of a second choice. Was 
it not said just now that a professor in the 
University of Zurich is a duke? 



150 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE LEAGUE. 

The Swiss League consists of twenty-five repub- 
lics ; nineteen Cantons, six Half-cantons ; which 
agree for certain purposes, mainly of defence, to 
form a single commonwealth, with one assembly, 
one executive power. 

This League of Cantons is a growth of time. 
Before the thirty-three famous patriots met in 
Grutli to exchange their pledges, acts of union j 
had been signed by some of the Cantons, and the 
very words of Grutli, ' All for each, and each for 
all/ had been exchanged by them on oath. Luzern 
had signed an act of mutual help with Bern, and 
those who signed that act were called Com- 
panions of the Oath. In 1291, Canton Schwyz 
and Canton Uri formed a league with the Half- 
canton of Unterwalden-nidwald, to which the 
second Half-canton, Unterwalden - obwald, after- 
wards adhered. They took the vow of 6 All for 



THE LEAGUE. 



151 



each and each for all/ Sixty days after the 
swearing of this oath of friendship, Canton Zurich 
entered into union for defensive purposes with 
Canton Schwyz and Canton Uri. All these acts 
of union cleared the ground for what was soon 
to be an actual League. 

At Griitli, a secluded field below the Seelis- 
berg, in Canton Uri, thirty herdsmen, stout of 
heart and strong of limb, were brought in 1307 
by three good patriots — Werner StaufTacher of 
Canton Schwyz, Walter Furst of Canton Uri, and 
Erni of Melchthal, Canton Unterwalden — to en- 
gage each other, by the pledge of ' All for each 
and each for all/ They swore to rise against 
their tyrant, to destroy his castles, and to free 
their Cantons from the Austrian yoke. As Schwyz 
became the theatre of war, the world outside first 
heard of these confederates as the Switzers. When 
Morgarten made the name and flag of Schwyz 
illustrious, the other Cantons were not sorry to 
accept her name and banner for their infant 
League. 

Both name and banner are of unknown origin. 
The name of Schwyz has been derived from swine, 
from snow, and many other words. The flag was 
once a blood-red field ; the cross was won in fight, 



152 



THE SWITZERS. 



but whether in defence of Pope or Kaiser is a 
subject of dispute. The better story seems, that 
certain men of Schwyz went out to serve the 
Emperor Conrad in his wars. They bore with 
them a blood-red flag. In every fray that blood- 
red flag was seen in front, and Conrad watched it 
with a soldier's eye. When the imperial armies 
moved on Burgundy, these troops marched with 
them ; and in one of the assaults of Hericourt 
they roused his martial admiration to so high a 
pitch, that he bestowed on them the right to 
quarter on their blood-red field his own imperial 
arms — the pure white cross. 

Morgarten fought and won, the herdsmen met 
in Brunnen, and renewed, in 1315, the League 
already sworn by them eight years before. In 
1332 Luzern became a member; and in 1351 
Zurich joined them, bringing in her train the 
neighbouring towns of Zug and Glarus. Two 
years later this confederacy was joined by Bern. 
For upwards of a century and a quarter (1353- 
1481) these eight Cantons — Zurich, Bern, Luzern, 
Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Glarus, Zug — com- 
posed the League ; but in this century and a 
quarter, Sempach, Nafels, Grandson, Morat, gave 
the simple mountaineers a taste for war. They 



THE LEAGUE. 



153 



broke into Aargau, Thurgau, and Ticino, and 
annexed these countries to the League, but not 
as members of a free and equal commonwealth. 
The conquerors were all but nobles, and the con- 
quered race were all but serfs. 

In 1481 they took in Fribourg and Solothurn, 
as ninth and tenth Cantons. Afterwards they 
occupied St. Gallen by a Federal force. In 1501 
Basel and Schaffhausen were admitted, as ele- 
venth and twelfth Cantons ; and a dozen years 
later Appenzell, a portion of the occupied country 
of St. Gallen, was accepted as the thirteenth 
Canton. For upwards of two centuries and 
three quarters (1513-1798) these thirteen Can- 
tons formed the League. 

As yet these Leaguers had no fundamental pact. 
Each Canton kept her sovereign rights in full ; 
made peace and war, coined money, sent her 
ministers to king and pope, and exercised the 
faculties of life and death. She only joined her 
sisters when their common frontiers were assailed. 
The Leaguers had no code, no capital, no executive 
power. When conferences were needed, they were 
called at either Bern, Luzern, or Zurich ; but the 
deputies conferred, decided, and returned ; each man 
to get his Canton to accept what they had done. 



* 



154 THE SWITZERS. 

In fact, the League was nothing but a group of 
states connected by a treaty of alliance, and the 
name of Switzer nothing but a form of speech 
occasionally heard in foreign camps. 

The actual origin of the League, as now exist- 
ing, must be traced to France. 

In 1798 the French, as friends of liberty, 
broke into Switzerland, upset the Cantonal 
governments, and framed a new republic on the 
last French pattern, one and indivisible. They 
took away the national name and flag. The 
countries of the League became Helvetia, and 
her flag three stripes of yellow, green, and red. 
They took away the primary assemblies. In 
their zeal for uniformity, they split some Cantons 
into pieces, and they patched up several Cantons 
into one. Bern was divided into four Cantons 
— Bern, Aargau, Oberland, and Yaud. Ticino 
parted into Canton Lugano and Canton Bellin- 
zona. Fribourg became Canton Sarine-et-Broye. 
The two Appenzells were swept away in favour 
of Canton Sentis. Glarus was lost in Canton De 
la Linth. Zug, Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, 
were abolished at one stroke ; and Canton Wald- 
statten occupied their places on the map. They 
introduced a fundamental pact, a common code 



THE LEAGUE. 



155 



of laws, a tree of liberty, and a French directorate 
of police. No student, mapping out ideal com- 
monwealths, can fail to see how logical these 
new arrangements were. As a reward for setting 
up this new republic, one and indivisible in name, 
and equal in her several parts, the friends of 
freedom seized Geneva and Neufchatel. 

But an ungrateful people rose against these 
friends of liberty, and after blood was shed in 
twenty fights, the French renounced the task, so 
difficult for them, of teaching men who had been 
free five hundred years, the art of managing 
their own affairs according to their actual wants. 
These old republicans could not be taught the 
beauties of a new republic one and indivisible, 
The Bernese people burnt their tree of liberty ; 
the citizens of Glarus would not take the name 
of Linthers ; Zug and Uri could not act in union ; 
and the men of Schwyz would not replace their 
ancient flag. ' Leave them alone/ Napoleon said ; 
and they were henceforth left alone. 

In 1803 the modern League was formed. 
Old names, old banners, and old peasant parlia- 
ments, were all restored, and districts which had 
long been held as subject lands were taken in 
as members of the League. St. Gallen, Aargau, 



156 



THE SWITZERS. 



Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, were now accepted as free 
Cantons, and became the equals of Luzern and 
Bern. The three republics of the Upper Rhine 
country were admitted as a fifteenth Canton, 
with the name of Graubiinden. For his services 
in this affair Napoleon seized the Valais, which 
he occupied and annexed to France ! 

In 1814, on the fall of France, the Valais was 
united to the League ; Neufchatel and Geneva 
also ; the last-named Canton much enlarged in 
size by the addition of Carouge. 

The order, names, and dates, stand thus : — 



1. Zurich 


. 1351 


12. Schaffhausen 


. 1501 


2. Bern 


. 1353 


13. Appenzell 


. 1573 


3. Luzern 


. 1332 


14. St. Gallen 


. 1803 


4. Uri . 


. 1307 


15. Graubiinden 


. 1803 


5. Schwyz 


. 1307 


16. Aargau 


. 1803 


6. Unterwalden 


. 1307 


17. Thurgau . 


. 1803 


7. Glarus 


. 1352 


18. Ticino 


. 1803 


8. Zug . 


. 1352 


19. Yaud 


. 1803 


9. Fribourg . 


. 1481 


20. Yalais 


. 1814 


10. Solothurn 


. 1481 


21. Neufchatel 


. 1814 


11. Basel 


. 1501 


22. Geneva 


. 1814 



To find a capital for these republics was no 
easy task. Each Canton has a capital of her 
own — the centre of her public life — but no 
great city overtops the rest, and draws them 
into moving round her by her mass and weight. 



THE LEAGUE. 



157 



By flux of speech some tiny towns are dignified 
as cities, such as Sion, with four thousand souls ; 
as Chur, with seven thousand five hundred souls ; 
and Fribourg, with ten thousand souls. Even 
Bern and Zurich would be tenth-rate towns in 
England and America. Geneva is the largest 
town in Switzerland, with forty -two thousand 
souls. The second town is Basel, of the size of 
Birkenhead. With all her glories, Zurich is but 
half the size of Coventry. In truth, this country 
is a commonwealth of hamlets, not of towns. 

When Canton Zurich joined the League, her 
only rival was Luzern. Luzern was on the forest 
lake, accessible from every part, while Altdorf, 
Schwyz and Stanz lie inland from the water s 
edge. Luzern was walled and safe, and therefore 
fit to be a capital of the League. But Zurich 
was a larger city, with a richer trade, a stronger 
wall, and a more energetic people. She became the 
centre of activity, though not the seat of govern- 
ment. When Canton Bern came in, the city of 
that name was sometimes used for conference. 
Luzern was also used ; and thus, from ancient 
times, three cities of the League acquired the 
rank, if not the name, of capitals. The League, 
reformed in 1814, adopted these three cities as 



158 



THE SWITZERS. 



her seats of government ; the President and 
Chamber sitting in each Canton for a couple of 
years, and then migrating to the next in turn. 
This system lasted from the year 1814 till the 
war of 1847, when, taught by serious trials that 
a country must possess one centre, and one centre 
only, Zurich and Luzern gave up their claims, 
and Bern became a fixed and central capital of the 
League. 



159 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE FEDERAL PACT. 

Although this League of Cantons has sur- 
vived a hundred monarchies, and never ceased to 
be a union of republics, she has lived through 
many forms in her five hundred and seventy- 
five years of public life. She has been feudal, 
clerical, imperial, radical, by turns. So long as 
she has had a Federal Pact, the business of 
her public life has been to study and amend 
that Pact. Old men can recollect the constitu- 
tions overthrown in 1798 ; the constitutions 
overthrown in 1803 ; the constitutions over- 
thrown in 1814. Young men remember the con- 
stitutions broken through in 1846 ; the new 
constitutions of 1848 ; the revision of 1866. All 
these amendments of the Federal Pact are to be 
taken as the signs of life and growth. In 
every stage of her historical growth, the League 
has been in arms against the Cantons and the 



160 



THE SW1TZERS. 



Communes on behalf of general rights ; those 
interests of a citizen, which lie beyond the proper 
sphere of local laws and customs. With the 
League are lodged the first conceptions of a 
Switzer and a Switzerland. In Zurich there are 
only Ziirichers, in Geneva there are only Genevese. 
A Cantonal code knows nothing of a Switzer and 
a Switzerland outside ; and hence the League 
is charged with the great duty of converting 
her conceptions of a Swiss citizen and a Swiss 
Commonwealth into actual facts. 

A man may have some rights beyond the 
limits of his Canton and his Commune ; and a 
man may lose his claim to call on either Canton 
or Commune to protect him in his rights. 

A Switzer is supposed to be a member of some 
Commune, in which he is to live and die. Till 
lately, nineteen out of twenty Switzers followed 
this old rule, and never left the hamlets of their 
birth. That system is extremely favourable to 
simplicity, to permanence, to inter-marriage, and 
to cretinism ; but in the face of opening roads, 
with steamers on the lakes and tunnels through 
the alps, it is not easy to maintain this patriarchal 
system. Men will rove in search of fortune ; and 
by roving they will lose their Communal rights. 



THE FEDEKAL PACT. 



161 



But loss of Communal rights will not deter a man 
from seeking bread beyond his village ; and of 
recent years a movement has been noted by ob- 
servers which, if quickened in the coming years, 
must part the population into two great camps — 
the citizens with Communal rights and the citizens 
without Communal rights. Already the propor- 
tion of citizens who have no Communal rights is 
great ; as some think perilously great ; for these 
men are a class apart, who have no common 
interest with their fellows, and know no other 
country than the League. For them the League 
is fighting, and has always fought. It claims 
for them the name of Switzer, and a right to 
settle, with a clear and equal vote, in any part 
of Switzerland — as they can do in Canton Zurich, 
under the new and pure republican law. 

A man is supposed to marry in his Commune ; 
but a stranger has no right of Commune ; and a 
citizen with Communal rights may wish to take 
a wife elsewhere. The case of Alois Arnold is a 
common case. Here comes a conflict of the courts. 
A stranger s marriage may be either good or bad, 
according to the local law. Some Cantons use 
the civil form, while others use the clerical form. 
The Catholic Cantons, as a rule, consider civil 

M 



162 



THE SWITZERS. 



marriage as no other than concubinage ; and per- 
sons living under such a union as no better than 
adulterers. In such Cantons divorce is not 
allowed, and marriages of persons who have been 
divorced in other Cantons are declared illegal 
and immoral. On the other side, a member of 
a Commune cannot take a wife unless his mayor 
and council give him leave ; and if he marries in 
another Canton, these authorities of his village 
may assoil the honour of his wife, and rob his 
children of their birthright in the soil. Confusion 
in his dearest interests wounds the citizen, and 
scandals irritate the courts of law. A woman who 
is recognised in Bern as an honourable wife may 
be rejected by society in Stanz and Altdorf as 
a concubine. For man and wife in such a case 
the League is fighting, and has always fought. 
It claims for them the right to marry when and 
where they please, without consulting either vil- 
lage priest or parish mayor. 

A man is bound to join the standard of his 
district, and receive his drill and training with 
his neighbour ; but experience proves that since 
the military art acquired so high a form, it is not 
wise to leave this drill and training to the several 
Cantons, some of which neglect their work, while 



THE FEDERAL PACT. 



163 



others do that work extremely well. A better 
method is required; and as the public safety is 
the highest law, the League desires to place the 
drill and training of all citizens on a common 
plan, and under the direction of a single board. 

Evangelical and Teutonic Switzerland is bent 
on having a general law on settlement, on civil 
marriage, and on military training. Catholic and 
Teutonic Switzerland is not so warm about these 
rights ; some Cantons stand aloof, and some 
oppose the project of reform. In Celtic Switzer- 
land the flame of opposition burns at fervent heat. 
Vaud does not like revision of the pact. Her 
Communal properties are vast, and she imagines 
that revision will compel her to admit the Bernese 
settlers, who are very numerous in her hamlets, 
to a share in all these village gifts. But Valais 
takes the lead in opposition ; Valais, which has 
set up gaming-tables ; Valais, which is always 
asking alms in Bern. This Canton feels that she 
has everything to lose by giving up her Cantonal 
and Communal rights. Ticino is too languid for 
resistance ; but she does not yield her privilege 
of incapacity with grace. The Appenzells and 
Unterwaldens want to walk their ancient ways. 

At present there is no great fear of violent 



164 



THE SWITZEES. 



change ; but the revision will be made in favour 
of the citizen and the League. All changes in the 
Pact — except when France bestowed on Switzer- 
land a new republic — have been guided by his- 
torical lights ; yet, every change from 1814 down 
to 1871, has taken something from the Commune 
and the Canton, and bestowed it on the citizen 
and the League. 

The Pact is written in three chapters. One 
chapter treats of Political Principles • a second 
chapter treats of Public Authorities ; and a third 
chapter treats of the Revising Powers. 

In Chapter I. these general principles are 
laid down : 

The twenty-two sovereign Cantons form the 
Swiss League. Their objects are — to defend the 
country, to maintain peace and order, to protect 
rights and liberties, and promote the common 
good. All Switzers are equal before the laws. 
No Canton is allowed to form political alliances 
with other Cantons and with foreign states. A 
power to make treaties and to declare war is 
lodged with the Federal authorities ; but the 
League is not allowed to keep a standing army. 
Every Switzer is a soldier, armed and drilled, and 
when the Council call him, he is bound to serve. 



THE FEDERAL PACT. 



165 



Each Canton furnishes her tale of men ; a first 
line called Elite, a second called Reserve, a third 
called Landwehr. In the field, a Federal corps 
must have the national flag. The League collects 
all customs at the frontier, coins all monies, 
regulates all railways, telegraphs, and posts. 
Letters may not be opened. A man can exer- 
cise political rights in no more than one Canton. 
Free exercise of religion is guaranteed. The 
press is free. The right of petition is admitted. 
Citizens may form associations, so long as there 
is nothing dangerous to the state in either the 
ends pursued or the means employed. Death 
penalties for political crime are abolished. The 
League can expel foreigners who compromise the 
public safety. Jesuits, and societies affiliated to 
the Jesuits, cannot be received in any part of 
Switzerland. 

In Chapter II. these general rules are given : 
Supreme authority is in the Federal Assembly. 
This Assembly is composed of two sections (like 
the American House of Representatives and Se- 
nate) called the National Council and the Council 
of States. Apart, each section has a power defined 
by law ; together, they are sovereign, and their 
acts beyond appeal. They vote without instruc- 



166 



THE SWITZERS. 



tions from their clients ; they are representatives 
in the highest sense. Each section chooses its own 
president and vice-president ; and when they sit 
together, they elect the Federal president, the 
Federal council, the Federal judges, the Federal 
chancellor, the Federal representatives, the Federal 
general, and the Federal chief-of-staff. They make 
war and peace. They pass laws. Subject to a 
popular veto, they revise the fundamental pact. 
The number of the National Council varies ; every 
twenty thousand souls in the population having 
a right to send one member ; that of the Council 
of States is fixed at forty -four ; each Canton 
sending two members, each Half-canton one mem- 
ber, to the board. All representatives are paid ; 
in one house from the Federal funds, and in 
the other from the Cantonal funds. A right of 
voting for his member vests in every Switzer 
twenty years of age ; a right of serving as such 
member vests in every Switzer who is not a 
pastor, priest, or monk. Executive power is 
lodged in a Federal Council of seven members, 
named for three years by the Federal Assembly 
in a common sitting. Any Switzer eligible for 
the National Council may be chosen as a Federal 
councillor, whether he is an ordinary councillor 



THE FEDERAL PACT. 



167 



or not. Trie President is named for a single year, 
and cannot occupy his seat a second year. These 
Federal councillors are paid ; they must not follow 
any other calling while they serve the League. 
In Chapter III. these powers are taken : 
The Federal constitution can be revised at any 
time. Be vision must take place according to the 
legal forms. If either branch of the Federal As- 
sembly should propose revision, and the other 
branch refuse, the question must be put to popu- 
lar vote. If fifty thousand Switzers, having civil 
rights, demand revision, and the Chamber will not 
yield, the question must be also put to popular 
vote. A clear majority decides the matter. When 
a constitution is revised by the National Assembly, 
it must be submitted to the people for their sanc- 
tion, and will have no force until accepted by a 
clear majority of citizens, voting man by man, and 
also by a clear majority of Cantons voting state 
by state. 

There is scant need to say that such a system 
gives an influence to the smaller Cantons in ex- 
cess of their natural and financial force. This 
power comes down to them from ancient times, 
and in the hour of scientific justice (such as 
that of 1798) it would be swept away. In all 



168 



THE SWITZERS. 



political struggles Uri counts as much as Bern, 
and Zurich finds her vote annulled by that of 
Zug. 

These minor States are Catholic, and many 
of their people Ultramontane, As the battle of 
the moment rages round the Catholic standards 
mainly — as the purpose of the Liberal party is to 
back the League against the Catholic Cantons 
— as the object of revision is to break the spell 
now exercised by priests and Jesuits over school- 
room, camp, and council, in these tiny Cantons — 
every soldier of the church is up in arms against 
revision of the fundamental pact. Once more the 
Jesuits are astir. Once more a pilgrimage is 
preached. Once more the pulpits breathe the 
note of strife. A memoir on the Catholic case 
against the Liberal party is prepared by Gaspard 
Mermillod. The Band of Pio Nono, a society of 
pious souls, is called to witness for the truth. All 
Switzerland is agitated by the church. 



169 



CHAPTER XVIII 

JESUITS. 

( They cannot take away our right of speech/ a 
Jesuit says, his pale, meek face aglow with 
inner light, as we descend into the streets of 
Fribourg, where a gathering of the Catholic party 
has been called. 

Although the Jesuits as an Order, with their 
schools and churches, with their presence and 
supremacy, are not allowed by law to root them- 
selves in any Canton of the League, the members 
of this Order come and go like any other strangers, 
whether Jews or Turks ; and in the passing year 
— a time of trial for their church — they swarm in 
every town, from Basel to Lugano. They are 
watching the Old Catholic movements ; they are 
wrestling with the Radical papers ; they are egging 
on the Cantons to resist the introduction of civil 
marriage ; they are fighting for the spiritual 
powers against the civil powers ; they are con- 



170 



THE SWITZERS. 



tending for amendments in the fundamental pact ; 
and they are holding up to public sympathy the 
image of a persecuted and infallible Pope. 

' These men can seize our goods/ the Father 
adds ; ' can strip us of our right to teach ; can 
turn our convents into mills and barracks ; can 
expel us from our native land. They hold the 
sword, at present ; yet, with all their might, they 
cannot hinder us from meeting to petition, and 
from interceding with the saints/ 

£ But are not many of your opponents 
Catholic ? ' 

• Not one. They are not Christian. Nay, 
they curse that noble name, as Satan and his 
angels curse it in their flaming pit. Five years 
ago they struck the name of Christian from two 
articles in the fundamental pact. They left it in 
one article ; and now they are erasing it from 
that. If they could burn the churches and 
behead the priests, they would. All churches will 
be taken in their turn — the first, that Church 
which stands upon a hving rock/ 

This gathering of the church is called, in 
name, to celebrate the founding of the Band of 
Pio Nono, but in truth to rouse .the public 
mind against the fundamental pact. The Band 



JESUITS. 



171 



of Pio Nono is a league of pious souls, who 
wish to help the Pope with pence, to scatter 
tracts about the villages, and work against the 
Liberal press. Herr Theodor von Scherrer is the 
president of this body ; but the J esuits who 
have called this meeting have another end in 
view. 

The Jesuits love this city on the Sarine ; 
first, because it is their ancient seat ; and 
next, because it is a town in which the age 
and people of the crusades still exist. Luzern, 
the other Jesuitic capital of Switzerland, has 
been invaded by the stranger, and has learned 
to care for money, bridges, banks, and public 
gardens, more than for this ancient Order, and 
the church they serve. The wayside cross is 
disappearing from her streets. A railway-engine 
drowns her vesper-bell. No beggars wait for 
pottage at her convent-doors. Few men now 
doff their caps to priest and nun. No crowds 
of women follow the viaticum with downcast 
eyes and quivering hps. A Catholic Council, it is 
true, still occupies the Rathhaus ; but a Catholic 
Council in Luzern is not so pliant as this Order 
likes. Luzern has grown too fat for a submissive 
town. The grace of poverty has left her ; and 



172 



THE SWITZERS. 



her lines of chestnut-avenues, steamboat piers, 
and new hotels, rise up in evidence against the 
latest gospels brought by thenr from Rome. 
Some warning reaches them from day to day. 
Eugene, Bishop of Basel, asks Professor Her- 
zog, of the seminary of Luzern, to make a 
public declaration of the Pope's InfaUibility. 
Eugene's diocese extends beyond Luzern, and 
Herzog, therefore, is canonically subject to him. 
What is the result ? Herr Segesser, though 
a Catholic, gives notice to the State Council 
of a motion to protest against the inter- 
ference of a Catholic prelate with the duties 
of a Catholic priest ! In Fribourg there is no 
such spirit. Since the Jesuits came to dwell 
in Fribourg, now three centuries ago, the 
town has been their own. When all the 
world made war upon them, Fribourg was 
their refuge and defence. She was the last to 
send them out ; she was the first to call them 
back. In 1847 she fought for them, and had 
her children slain for them. Driven out again, 
suppressed by law, and banished as an Order 
from Swiss soil, she still regards them as a band 
of martyrs, keeps their convent on this height 
untouched, and longs to see them back in their 



JESUITS. 



173 



old place, if only she might have them back 
without a civil war. She is not game enough 
to fight. But as to voting, listening, lighting 
lamps, and burning Bengal fire for them, she 
will go any lengths, Etienne Marilley, Bishop 
of Lausanne, whose see extends to Fribourg, is 
a man of vigour — silent, humorous, circum- 
spect — who keeps his house in order and his 
flock in trim. This bishop may be said to rule 
the town, since no man can be either mayor or 
councillor till Etienne nods assent. The govern- 
ment is ultramontane. All the officers of state 
are members of the Band of Pio Nono. Priests 
are made inspectors of the public schools. An 
order of nuns, the Ursulines, affiliated to the 
Jesuits, and directed by a Jesuit father, is re- 
ceived into the city in defiance of the funda- 
mental law. No strangers come to live in Fri- 
bourg. When the bridge is crossed, the organ 
heard, the Jesuits' convent seen, the Bathhaus 
visited, a traveller hurries on to Bern. Few 
strangers rest beyond a night ; one good hotel 
suffices for their wants. No roads are made, no 
avenues planted, to entice them ; and in many 
parts the city keeps a something of that quaint 
and feudal aspect which it wore when Louis of 



174 



THE SWITZERS. 



Savoy dashed into the Rathhaus, seized the thir- 
teen German patriots, and struck their heads off 
in the Place Saint George. 

Two thousand deputies, at least, have answered 
to the Jesuits' bidding ; come to dine and listen, 
since they dare not draw the sword. They make 
no secret of their mood, for Switzers are not silent 
when their hearts are full. Their voices are for 
war. e The time has come/ exclaims the chan- 
cellor of Solothurn, ' when we must preach a 
crusade!' Here, he holds his breath an instant, 
for the word upon his lip means civil strife ; 
and then adds, slowly, ' Not an armed crusade ; 
arms are not within our reach ; but in its stead a 
crusade of the Cross.' 

This crusade has begun. A Capuchin monk, 
one Father Hilaire, is our Peter Hermit. Tall, 
ascetic, furious, he attracts all eyes and takes all 
ears by storm. Attacking modern progress in 
general, and the Old Catholic party in particular, 
he exclaims — c First liberty, then liberalism, then 
license. There is a Pagan liberalism ; there is 
also an heretical liberalism ; and there is also a 
Catholic liberalism. This last is worse than all 
the rest. The Holy Father has pronounced it 
dangerous to the souls of men. What does it 



JESUITS. 



175 



mean? Luther is the father of modern liberal- 
ism and modern impiety, and one of his dis- 
ciples, Guizot, has the folly to declare that the 
church should only speak to heart and mind, and 
not appeal to actual force. I tell you that the 
state is a father, and a father knows that he 
must use the rod. These liberals prate of kind- 
ness and persuasion, but the Holy Scriptures tell 
us not to spare. St. Francis got a whipping for 
his fault : it was his first fault and his last. The 
state must use, not arguments, but whips. Stand 
fast, I bid you, to the church : you have the 
truth ; and truth will make you free/ 

At a dinner given to the Swiss bishops in the 
Mercers' tavern, near the church of St. Nicolas, 
this picture of a militant church is touched by 
more than one episcopal orator. ' No one/ says 
Etienne Marilley, leading off replies to a toast 
of ' The Swiss Prelates/ c can equal your bishops 
in desire to stand by their several flocks in 
this conflict ; and if it should become necessary 
to throw themselves into the breach, and pay 
with life for their devotion to the cause of truth 
and justice, your bishop will be the first to do 
it/ Shouts of rapture greet this note of coming 
war. Marilley pauses ; something seems to strike 



176 



THE SWITZERS. 



him ; something perhaps of comic in this tavern 
boast of readiness to die ; and turning to his 
reverend brother, Gaspard Mermillod, he adds : 
' Now he shall speak : yon know how eloquent 
he is; his tongue is looser than my own — il a 
la langue mieux pendu que moi/ 

Bishop Mermillod takes up the martial tone, 
— ' Your bishops give no half support to any 
cause in which they are engaged ; you may rely 
upon their watchfulness and courage in this 
coming shock of foes. Remember who commands 
us in the hour of strife. Our General-in-chief is 
the Holy Father ; but in battle, every soldier 
must be at his post, and no less credit falls upon 
the rank and file than on the captains. Fribourg, 
which has borne so long her witness for the 
truth, now leads the van. Inspired by her, 
Luzern will join our ranks, and then the whole 
of Catholic Switzerland will rally to the church/ 
Abbot Wicky springs upon his feet to give a 
toast of 'War — a holy war!' His face is flushed 
and red, his words rush from him fast and fierce, 
' Our Lord has told us He brought war into the 
world. St. Paul could boast that he had fought 
the good fight. Indifference will not do. If any 
one of my flock were to neglect his duty at the 



JESUITS. 



177 



polling-booth, I would refuse to grant him abso- 
lution from his sins. No, no ; this day is not a 
time to talk of peace. I give my toast, A war — 
a holy war/ In place more fitting for a bishop 
to be heard in than a tavern, Mermillod still 
sounds the clarion. c When we are gone/ he 
cries, in one of his great bursts of eloquence, 
that almost sets the college close on fire, 'im- 
partial history will paint four figures on the 
canvas of our time ; four figures, standing out 
distinct in form and high in light, amidst the 
gloomy shadows of the past ; a kaiser leaning 
on a cannon at Versailles, an emperor yielding up 
his sword at Sedan, a soldier-king caressing his 
moustache and riding into Rome ; and over these 
three figures, blessing them with lifted hands, the 
calm, majestic figure of Pius the Ninth, commit- 
ting a renewed and happy kingdom of the church 
to his successor Pius the Tenth/ 

At night, the city is aflame with lamps. The 
bridge, the Place St. George, the streets and 
terraces, are crowded with excited priests not 
dining at the Mercers' tavern. On the Schon- 
berg stands a cross of coloured lamps. The 
chapel of Loretto is a wreath of stars, with Pio 
Nono in the centre, writ in fira At Diessbach 



178 



THE SWITZEES. 



there are rockets, Bengal lights, and detonating 
balls. Some strangers, lingering on the terrace 
of the Zahringer Hof, make witty and annoying 
jokes about this pious crusade ; but by ten 
o'clock, these revellers have gone to bed ; and we 
are left with the autumnal stars and silent city, 
to compare opinions on a warm day's work. 

' You hope to influence the revision by these 
meetings V 

' Yes/ replies the J esuit, c we may hope to do 
so ; but our trust is not in deputies and lawyers ; 
else these jesters who have left us would be 
wholly in the right. Our trust is in the higher 
powers. You recollect the state of things a few 
years after our great founder's death. We came 
to Canton Fribourg, to revive and to restore our 
faith. We had a cruel fight, but we endured and 
won. Once more, we shall endure and win ; but 
we shall not address the jurists and the doctors ; 
they are useless to us, even when we win them ; 
and we never win them to our side till we have 
won their masters.' 

' Masters ! — who are they V 

' The people, — those who delve and drive, 
who weave and spin, who plough and plant; 
the porters, shepherds, masons, drovers, boatmen, 



JESUITS. 



179 



foresters, and guides. These are the men we 
seek ; for it is only through such men that 
changes in the world are made. A few days 
hence, a separate meeting of these classes will be 
called in Fribourg, 'in the name of Cantonal sove- 
reignty and freedom of instruction, to protest 
against revision of the fundamental pact in any 
other than a strictly Catholic sense. This meeting 
will protest against the Federals sending any man 
— at any time, and under any pretext — to report 
upon a Catholic school. They will protest against 
a law for closing public schools to priests and 
nuns. They will protest against the cry for sepa- 
rating church and state. They will demand three 
great concessions from the League : — the first, 
that Catholic parents shall have the free choice of 
teachers for their boys and girls ; the second, that 
every Commune shall have the right to send her 
children to religious schools ; the third, that in- 
stead of separating church and state there shall be 
a closer bond of school and church, teacher and 
priest, grammar and catechism, science and God. 
Our people have a right to ask for such things ; 
and when people in this country ask in earnest, 
they can hardly be denied/ 

f But something more than this demand for 



180 



THE SWITZERS. 



freedom of instruction lies behind ? You are ex- 
pecting to return?' 

c We ask that restoration as our right. We 
do not seek a privilege for ourselves ; we ask that 
all religious bodies, known and authorised by 
the Catholic church, be tolerated and received 
in Switzerland, like other corporations. We be- 
lieve in prayer. The church is passing through 
a bitter time ; but as the clouds grow darker, 
we shall brace our sinews up to meet the storm. 
We call upon the Virgin day and night. We 
go on pilgrimage, and seek for courage at Our 
Lady's shrine/ 



181 



CHAPTER XIX. 

PILGRIMAGE. 

On pilgrimage ! Alert but dusty, we attain the 
chapel called the Ecce Homo, where the path 
from Goldau through the pine-trees strikes the 
road from Schwyz to Rothenthurm. A priest 
from Bellinzona and myself are wending by those 
bridle-ways that pilgrims love, towards Meinrad s 
Cell. This chapel gained, the priest kneels down 
before the cross to say his prayers. 

St. Meinrad is a name in the poetic roll of 
saints, and idlers hear of him, and of his cell, in 
many a song and play. His shrine was famous 
at an early time : — 

Von alien Wandiern am dem deutschen Land 
Die uber Meinrad's zell . . . 

Yet we are not going up this dusty road for 
Schiller s sake. We have a present purpose in 
our journey; one of us to pray for light and 



182 



THE SWITZEKS. 



help, the other to observe the force and passion 
of the strife. 

All Christian countries have their sacred 
places, which to pilgrims not robust enough in 
faith for greater doings, have to stand for Beth- 
lehem, Nazareth, and the Holy Sepulchre, Italy 
has Loretto ; Greece, Mount Athos ; Russia, Solo- 
vetsk ; Germany, Cologne ; Spain, Compostella ; 
France, St. Denis ; England, Walsingham ; se- 
lected places, owned and blessed of God, in 
which a sinner, groaning under weight of sin, 
may spend some moments of his life with holy 
men and in the midst of holy things. At 
Meinrads Cell — Einsiedeln, Anchorites seat — a 
pious Switzer finds a spot like one of these ; 
a spot which God has marked and sanctified ; 
a spot of supernatural light and grace, with 
sacred forests and miraculous waters ; in the 
midst of which the Virgin and her Son have 
deigned to build their house and consecrate their 
holy spring. 

A noisy beck, the Aa, is at our feet, deep down 
among the stones and pines. Beyond this ravine 
springs the Mostelberg. It is a classic and his- 
toric scene, alive with noble names and noble deeds. 
Below is Steinen, where the old Landammann, 



PILGRIMAGE. 



183 



Werner StaufYacher, lived ; a little lower still is 
Schwyz, the capital of Canton Schwyz, with her 
twin prongs of rock. Above are Sattel, with 
the chapel of Morgarten, and the ridges of that 
famous alp. To right and left, in front and rear, 
each crest and thorpe recalls some memorable 
name and day. 

6 You call this country free/ the priest ob- 
serves, on rising from before that wayside cross. 
' Although a Switzer born and bred, I am not 
free to say my prayers in Switzerland's most 
favoured church ! The fact is so. Our Radicals 
in Ticino have decreed that no one shall go out on 
pilgrimage beyond his Canton. I am forced to 
break that law in going on my duty to Einsiedeln. 
It is only on our flag we bear the Cross/ 

This priest is young and fierce ; his southern 
blood inflamed by what he calls his personal wrong. 
By law, as he contends, he is the parish priest 

of B , a village near Locarno, blest to his 

appointment by his bishop, but expelled alike 
from church and commune by a Radical mayor, 
supported by a squad of Cantonal troops. 

1 These Radicals not only check our right of 
pilgrimage, but in a month or two will strike the 
name of Christian from our public code/ 



184 



THE SWITZERS. 



£ But such erasure is no consequence of Radical 
opinions. Look at Zurich. There the Radicals 
are masters of the Canton ; they have made a new 
republic ; but they have not separated church and 
state, and have not struck the name of Christian 
from their public code/ 

' In Zurich the majority are Evangelical, and 
for the passing moment Radicals and Evangelicals 
fancy they have found a common enemy in Rome. 
Yet even in Zurich, as in Aargau and in Thurgau, 
they have seized our convents and our convent- 
funds/ 

' By regular course of law/ 

c No course is regular that robs the Church. 
These injuries are done in face of the most solemn 
public acts. Our ancient constitutions guaranteed 
our convents in the mixed Cantons, such as Zurich, 
Bern, and Basel. In the constitutions of 1803 
and 1815 our convents were protected by the 
League. In 1848 these guarantees were dropped ; 
but not with our consent ; and since that dreadful 
year, our convents, abbeys, and foundations, have 
been made the prey of Radical and Evangelical 
majorities in every market-town. You call that 
regular course of law — the passion of a rude and 
guilty mob ! To us, majorities are not divine/ 



PILGRIMAGE. 



185 



' Are not the men who carry on these conflicts 
with the church of Rome, her children, men like 
Keller, Landammann of Aargau, Curti, Landam- 
mann of St. Gallen, President Anderwert of 
Thurgau, and Professor Miinzinger of Bern ? ' 

' Our children sin through ignorance. They 
think the church an enemy to their civic freedom ; 
she who is their steadfast friend. They never 
dream how much our country owes the church. 
Our goods, our laws, our towns, our liberties — all 
these are of her friendly gift. We had our church 
before we had a Commune ; we had our Commune 
ere we had a Canton ; we had our Cantons long 
before we had a League. What would you call 
the glories of our land V 

"Zurich, Luzern, Geneva, and St. Gallen/ 

e You are right ; and all these towns are 
offshoots from the church/ 

No man can say the priest is wrong, and many 
of these pilgrims toiling up the cliffs towards 
Meinrad's Cell, preserve traditions in their songs 
and usages of old dependence on the cloister. 
Zurich lived in her Lady-abbesses. Luzern de- 
pended on the Abbots of Murbach. Geneva was 
indebted to her bishops ; and St. Gallen owed her 
name to a famous saint. The pasture-lands were 



186 



THE SWITZERS. 



occupied by nuns, the alpine tops were tenanted by 
monks. From Basel to Sion, nearly every town 
of moment was the property of some great abbey, 
chapter and cathedral. Sion held of her bishop ; 
St. Maurice of her abbot. Solothurn depended on 
the chapter of St. Ursus Minister ; and SchafY- 
hausen on the abbots of All Saints. The nuns of 
Zurich planted Uri, and the monks of Murbach 
planted Unter-walden. Even Schwyz, though 
many of her people were free peasants of the em- 
pire, was a sort of appanage of the church. Large 
tracts of Schwyz were claimed by the Prince-abbot 
of Einsiedeln ; though the men of Schwyz refused 
his rents, and when he used the weapons of his 
cloth against them rushed upon his convent, stole 
his cattle, and profaned his shrine. 

( The world is arming more and more against 
the Church/ the Father from Ticino adds; 'yet 
since the day of Pentecost, the world has never 
stood in greater need than now of spiritual grace. 
It may not come, though hearts are straining 
for an outward sign. You see these children 
of the soil ; these aged men, who look to find 
their graves -ere long ; these boys and girls, with 
brows unseamed by care ; these young men and 
young women, in the pride of health ; the men of 



PILGRIMAGE. 



187 



every grade, from priest and banker down to 
groom and guide ; the women of all ranks, from 
nun and teacher down to kitchen wench and 
nurse. All these are going up to Meinrad's 
cell. But who is Meinrad, that these folks 
should care for him? What brings them from 
their distant homes ? What lifts them over pass 
and lake ? Who bids them slake their thirst 
at Meinrad's fountain ? You can count them 
now by scores ; at Biberbriicke they will swell to 
hundreds ; in the convent square they will expand 
to thousands. Why are they afoot ? No earthly 
purpose draws them up into these wastes. No 
church is to be robbed, no Jesuit to be hunted 
down. No popular parliament is to be held. 
Yet nowhere in these Cantons will you match 
the concourse of all classes at Our Lady's shrine. 
Why have this rustic and his wife come down 
from Andermatt, a hundred miles of mountain 
road on foot ? To eat and drink, to lodge in 
dainty rooms, to spend a joyous and mercurial 
day ? They dream of no such pleasures. They 
are coming on the souls affairs. Not meat and 
wine, but grace and light, are what they seek. 
In asking for a blessing, they are quickened by 
an impulse more than human to go out and find 



188 



THE SWITZERS. 



it in some holy place. If tender and poetic 
fancies haunt their dreams, these longings are 
a spiritual, not a mortal growth. They seek 
for peace, and they will find it in the house of 
God/ 

The passing season is a Pilgrim's Year. In 
every season there are crowds of devotees at 
Meinrad s Cell ; but never has the church been 
tried as now; and never has Our Lady's shrine 
been thronged as now. In every town the Jesuits, 
and the ultramontane priests who back them, 
have been preaching pilgrimage. All sacred 
enterprises open with a visit to some saint. A 
pilgrimage prepares the mind to dare and suffer. 
All the deputies who troop to Rome, both clerical 
and lay, are counselled by the Jesuits to return 
from Italy by way of Canton Schwyz. All 
through the summer and the fall, a stream of 
English lords, of Belgian counts, and Austrian 
barons, have been dropping cards on Abbot 
Heinrich Schmid, and kneeling at the hour of 
vespers in Our Lady's shrine. 

'These pilgrimages serve a worldly and poli- 
tical end?' 

' In one sense — yes. We seek a change. 
We cannot bear the pressure of events. Take 



PILGRIMAGE. 



189 



my own Canton of Ticino. By our fundamental 
law the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church is 
recognised as teaching the religion of the state; 
yet see what they are doing in the face of that 
undoubted public law. Our radicals have seized 
the Catholic colleges at Ascona, Mendrisio, Bellin- 
zona, and Lugano. They have interrupted the 
education of our priests ; they have driven 
away our vicars from their churches ; they have 
robbed our bishop of his rights ; they have sup- 
pressed the seminary of Polleggio ; they have 
set up excommunicated priests. They laugh at 
protests from our spiritual chief, and interdict 
his visits to the churches on our soil/ 

( He is a foreign prelate, is he not — the 
Bishop of Milan — and a subject of the King of 
Italy?' 

6 A bishop — yes ; a subject — no. He is a 
shepherd of the Universal Church, which sees no 
frontier lines in Christian states.' 

' But is there not a law — a Federal law of 
1859 — which interdicts, in every part of Switzer- 
land, the exercise of episcopal jurisdiction by any 
foreign bishop V 

' Yes ; there is a law ; and that bad law is but 
another of our wrongs. Those Radicals in Bern are 



190 



THE SWITZERS. 



like our Radicals in Ticino. First, they rob the 
Church, and then they pass a bill to make their 
plunder lawful spoil. Our Council in Ticino were 
before the men of Bern. They made a law, in 
1855, by which they took away our bishop's right 
to choose his priests and vicars. They bade some 
six or seven laymen, ignorant of the service, to 
conduct our Church affairs : to do as they might 
choose with hospices and convents ; to appoint 
ecclesiastical dignitaries ; to in stall our clergy in 
their charges ; to erect new parishes where they 
liked, and even to suppress old parishes according 
to their mood. Nay, more ; they gave the mayors 
and councils — shepherds, porters, grooms — a right 
to send away their village priests, and set up others 
in their seats. It is rebellion in the church. 
The bishop and the Pope are equally defied. In 
future, every act and edict of the spiritual powers 
are to be laid before the Canton for approval ; if 
approval is refused, such acts and edicts are to 
have no force. A priest is bound to read in 
church all edicts of the civil powers. If any 
priest should act on orders sent to him from 
either Rome or Milan, he is smitten by a fine, 
which may be five francs, fifty francs, five thou- 
sand francs. What man dare do his duty to his 



PILGRIMAGE. 



191 



bishop under such a threat ? Some persons try 
to keep their conscience clear ; but if they rise 
against the excommunicated priests set up in 
divers places by the state, a bugle sounds to 
arms, the troops are set in motion, and the rifle 
stops all argument with a bang/ 

' Ticino, though a Catholic Canton, seems to 
be in plain revolt against her Church V 

' It is in actual schism. Our bishop dares 
not come into his diocese. Our celebration of the 
month of Mary is prohibited. A woman is con- 
demned and fined for singing the Canticles of 
the Virgin. Our wish to celebrate the Papal 
jubilee is refused. A pilgrimage to any shrine 
beyond the Canton is forbidden, so that no man 
from Ticino can, according to his local law, be now 
upon his way to Meinrad s Cell. Is it not clear 
that we require a change of heart and soul ? To 
bring about this change of heart and soul, we 
preach the Pilgrim's Year/ 



192 



CHAPTER XX. 

CONVENT AND CANTON. 

At the small village of Altmatt, which was once 
the border town of Canton Schwyz, defended by 
some earthworks from attacks by the Prince-abbot 
of Einsiedeln, and is now a little weaving thorpe, 
we quit the road and climb the mountain side. 
A pilgrim always keeps the ancient tracks, and 
this old pathway up the Katzenstrick was worn 
in ages long ago by knights and shepherds in their 
frequent raids and frays. 

An hour of easy idling brings us up from 
Altmatt to the top ; a table-land of green and 
lonely pastures, where the Convent herds were 
wont to feed. Behind us rise the broken and 
irregular ridges of Morgarten ; name as sacred 
to a Switzer as Mount Zion to a Jew. 

( You may imagine/ says the priest, on pausing 
to look backward, c that the glory of Morgarten 
springs directly from the oaths of Griitli and the 
deeds of Tell. We priests are not all Austrian 



CONVENT AND CANTON. 



193 



in our passions ; and, in spite of Kopp and Billiet, 
may agree with every shepherd on these mountain 
slopes, that Tell was once a living man ; but 
Grutli oath and Altdorf apple have but scant 
connexion with the day of which some Switzers 
feel so proud. Morgarten was the fruit of an 
indecent raid and an atrocious theft. These men 
of Schwyz are always men of Schwyz. They 
prate of freedom much, but what they mean by 
freedom is a right of making free with other peo- 
ple s goods. Their spirit has descended, like their 
banner, to the League, which only robs our con- 
vents now, as in an earlier day this Canton 
robbed St. Meinrads Cell/ 

In early times the abbots of Einsiedeln, 
princes of the Empire, held their lands in sove- 
reignty, protected by the church and by some 
noble knight — the Graf von Rapperschwyl and 
Duke of Austria mainly ; while the men of 
Schwyz, affecting to be peasants of the empire, 
would not own the sway of a religious house. 
All efforts to subdue them only made them worse. 
No frontiers could be fixed between the Convent 
and the Canton. They were said to run across 
these pasture lands along the Katzenstrick, and 
when the convent cows and horses strayed into 

o 



194 



THE SWITZERS. 



disputed fields, the shepherds caught and stole 
them. Angry words roused angry blood. The 
abbot claimed the country, and the rustics an- 
swered they were free and always had been free. 

Frei war der Schweitzer von Uralters her. 

They owned no master save that emperor to 
whom the knee of king and serf alike was bent. 
The abbots of Einsiedeln, princes of the empire, 
with the habits of their class, replied that they 
had charters from the emperor which would prove 
their claims. The men of Schwyz were not 
allowed to see these charters, and when they 
raised a cry against being spoiled, the abbot 
struck them with a thunder-bolt from Rome. 

A year before the battle of Morgarten threw 
a lurid light into these Swiss defiles, Johannes, 
Baron von Schwanden, Canton Bern, was reigning 
abbot ; a deceitful, grasping man, who coveted his 
neighbour s field, and built himself a fortress on 
the Lake of Zurich, as a refuge from the crowd of 
enemies whom his crimes raised up. No Austrian 
bailiff, in his wantonness of power, put out his 
hand in a more ruthless spirit than this Bene- 
dictine prince. He laid the country under inter- 
dict ; he closed the churches, stopped the rites of 



CONVENT AND CANTON. 



195 



baptism and confession, and prohibited the sacra- 
ments of marriage and viaticum. When the 
afflicted people asked by what authority he laid 
them under interdict, he told them he was acting 
under briefs from Rome. 

The men of Schwyz, excited and indignant, 
came from mass into their primary assembly at the 
feast of the Epiphany (1314), to hear the news, 
and see what could be done. Werner Stauffacher, 
Landammann of Schwyz, presided at this meeting, 
and the question rose in what way they could 
see these Roman briefs and charters which were 
said to be at Meinrad's Cell. Should they not 
march upon the abbey, and obtain a sight of them 
by force? This proposition took the crowd. A 
raid upon that stronghold of their enemies might 
pay them well. If it were boldly planned, and 
quickly done, a raid might yield them more than 
briefs and charters, even if such briefs and charters 
should be found. The monks were rich ; their 
stables full of horses, and their pastures fat with 
kine. These monks were sons of dukes and 
counts, who made their Benedictine skirts a 
cloak for every vice. Their castle on the Lake 
of Zurich stood beyond the reach of simple shep- 
herds, but the abbey of Einsiedeln lay at hand, 



196 



THE SWITZERS. 



not three hours' march from Schwyz. Much 
fiery speech was used, and then a vote was taken 
for a march that Sunday night. At once they sent 
off scouts to stop the roads, lest news of what was 
in the wind should reach the monks. They called 
each citizen to his flag, and being armed already 
they were quickly on the march by Rothenthurm 
and Altmatt towards this Katzenstrick. 

Rudolf von Rudegg, Rector of the seminary 
of Einsiedeln, wrote a poem on this raid of 
rustics, full of quaint and picturesque details. 
Rudegg calls his work 6 Capella Heremit ; ' and 
in the latter part of this quaint piece he paints 
the night surprise. 

' All at once/ he writes, ' in the midst of dark- 
ness the convent bell rings out a note of danger ; 
but we are too late to fly ; the enemy has posted 
his men on every side. Each one of us endeavours 
to leave his cell and gain the sanctuary in the 
church, which he supposes that even these robbers 
will respect, but it is only in the upper chamber 
of the belfry that one feels assured of finding a 
place of safety. Some of us run among our ene- 
mies, who make us prisoners ; some resist this cap- 
ture and are threatened by the mob with instant 
death, The chief, however, calls his company, and 



CONVENT AND CANTON. 



197 



setting them to watch the captive monks, prevents 
the rogues from going into any more excess/ 

This presence of the Landammann might have 
warned the fathers that the business was more 
serious than a raid on flocks and herds, had 
any of these learned nobles known the name of 
Werner StaufFacher, and the existing temper of 
the men of Schwyz. But none of these proud 
monks had stooped as yet to learn the commonest 
facts about those peasant neighbours who were 
soon to be the burthen of a hundred songs — 
the talk of every court and city from the Tiber 
to the Thames. The Rector had not heard of 
Werner's name. 

So soon as the invaders seized the place, 
they sought in every room, in every press, for 
papers. All the books they found were burnt. 
Accounts and psalters were destroyed in heaps • 
but the pretended bulls and charters were not 
found; a fact which Rudegg feels he must ex- 
plain away by saying that the abbot had bestowed 
them in some secret chest. This abbot was at 
Pf affikon, his fortress on the lake. 

6 Our Convent/ says the Rector, who was hiding 
in the belfry, ' is delivered up to pillage. Every- 
thing is seized, the sanctuary doors are chopped 



198 



THE SWITZERS. 



with hatchets, when the ornaments, the sacred 
vessels and the priestly robes become the spoil of 
wretches, who trample under foot and scatter to 
the winds, not only bones of martyrs but the con- 
secrated bread . . . When daylight comes, the foe 
draws round the belfry, armed with burning torch 
and bar of iron, ready to assault and make 
the fathers yield. The porter of the Convent 
throws himself into the narrow stair, and tells the 
fathers he can hold it with his axe, since only one 
invader can come in at once ; but they decline this 
offer of defence, as not becoming monks, and put 
themselves into the hands of God. On meeting 
with no obstacle to their advance, the enemy en- 
ter in, but we receive them in the words of 
peace. "You need not fear," says one of them, 
" our chief has given us orders only to take your 
persons and your goods." Happy to know the 
worst, we follow them without a word. They 
lodge us in a separate house, which is our jail. 
But now another band arrives, and finding nothing 
more to eat and drink, these men grow riotous, 
and ask to have their share of plunder and of 
prisoners. Such a row breaks out ! At length, 
the chief calls in his men, and gives his orders for 
the march. The aged and the sick are left behind. 



CONVENT AND CANTON. 



199 



Three groups are formed ; a group of monks, a 
group of servants, and a group of cattle ; and the 
word to march being given, these columns move, 
although the women of the village rend the air 
with screams, and call on Heaven for help, on 
seeing their husbands driven away with us. In 
crawling up the Katzenstrick, we all knock up, 
and I am fain to lie and rest, but that a rider 
bids me hold on to the tail of his mule. Having 
crossed the ridge we come down into Altmatt, 
where we halt. Our Convent servants, at a cost 
of so much money, are released. For us, we are 
detained as prisoners in the house of Werner 
Abacker, where we he five days, until the Land- 
ammann comes to carry us down the road to 
Schwyz. The monks are made to go on foot. 
The priests have horses ; but our singing-master, 
dressed in his official costume, cannot get his 
boots, which are enormous, into the stirrups. So 
his legs hang down, in which ridiculous way we 
pass through laughing crowds, into the streets of 
Schwyz. On stopping at the Communal house, 
the mayor and councillors dispute what shall be 
done with us ; and during this debate, the cure* of 
Schwyz obtains permission of the Landammann to 
offer us a good repast. At night, the Landammann 



200 



THE SWITZERS. 



comes to tell us we are placed under guard ot 
Peter Jocholf, which alarms us much ; this 
fellow, the wickedest man in the town, has 
no compassion. Nine of us, seven monks and 
priests, and two laymen, the Intendant and the 
porter, are left with him to sup. We sup on 
tears, and when we rise from table, having eaten 
nothing, the women, who are far worse than the 
men, attack us with their cries — "It is too good for 
them ! These monks who have unjustly smitten us 
with excommunication, and snatched the nurture 
from our mouths ! They ought to suffer as they 
make us suffer, and to bear the penalties of their 
misdeeds ! " Six weeks they keep us in our narrow 
jail, and then they take the porter and Intendant 
to another house. Soon afterwards we beg to send 
a messenger who may prepare the means of our 
enlargement, and the Landammann, after speak- 
ing with the elders, lets him go. This deputy, 
Rudolf von Wunnenberg, sees the Graf von Tog- 
genburg and the Graf von Hapsburg, and procures 
from them two letters of intercession to the Lan- 
dammann of Schwyz. In three days after Wun- 
nenberg's return, a primary assembly meets ; our 
pardon is pronounced ; and we are free once more. 
The cure, who eleven weeks since had made us 



CONVENT AND CANTON. 



201 



sit down at his table to distract our thoughts, 
now gives us a splendid feast in sign of our joy- 
ful deliverance. Having done credit to his meat 
and wine — his wine is very good ! — we start to seek 
our abbot, who is so much overcome on seeing us 
alive and safe that tears roll down his cheeks. 
He serves us up a copious banquet, and he passes 
round the table ample cups. Thus comforted with 
meat and wine we let the time slip by with very 
joyful hearts/ 

These monks being men of noble birth, the 
shame of their imprisonment was widely felt. 
One captive was a Graf von Regensberg. A 
second was a follower of the Graf von Hapsburg. 
Nearly all the monks were knights and barons. 
Hardly were these noble monks at home before 
they laid an interdict once more on Canton 
Schwyz ; and called upon the House of Austria 
to maintain their curse, not only in the land of 
Schwyz, but in the lands of every one who dared 
to help it. Austria leaped into the saddle ; 
rode up to Morgarten ; and recoiled as from a 
wall of solid rock. 

'Two steps and we shall see St. Meinrad's 
Cell/ exclaims the priest. We leave the pasture- 
lands behind, and skirt the edges of a pine-wood. 



202 



THE SWITZERS. 



Down the steep, a little in advance, we see some 
rustics on their knees, and throwing up their 
hands in prayer. c They catch the towers, not 
yet in sight for us/ the father cries. ' There — 
there P and down he sinks upon his knee. 

Far out in front extends a green, uneven 
valley, closed by sombre hills ; a bottom rich in 
grass and water, and of width unusual in these 
rugged glens. A road winds through the valley, 
passing many a house and church, till it is lost in 
a rough nest of sheds and shingles, lying at the 
feet, though with respect and distance, of a 
strange and princely pile. This edifice closes up 
the valley with enormous towers and wings, and 
looks in solitary grandeur like some fragment of 
an alpine crest enchanted into sacred forms. This 
edifice is the Benedictine abbey of Einsiedeln, 
with the fine basilica of Our Lady of the An- 
chorites ; rising from the gentle hill, which was 
St. Meinrads cell and tomb, a convent no less 
striking in her natural loneliness and visible 
beauty, than she is in her historic fame and 
busy daily life. 



203 



CHAPTEP XXL 

ST. meinrad's cell. 

St. Meinrad's Cell has grown into a church, an 
abbey, and a town. 

An open space, Like that of the Piazza of San 
Pietro on a smaller scale, divides the sacred edifice 
from the town ; a wide and windy open space, in 
which a hundred thousand pilgrims might have 
room, in one of their great festivals, to kneel 
before the banner and the cross, as these are 
carried past them by a line of priests and nuns. 

This open square has more than passing hints 
of Pome. The abbots who conceived the work 
were princes of the Holy Poman Empire, and 
the builders kept their faces firmly fixed on 
Pome. The convent and the church are 
Pomanesque ; the esplanade, the statues, and 
the steps Italian. Everything witlrin them, and 
about them, has been planned and executed in 
the Poman spirit. In the centre of this square a 



204 



THE SWITZERS. 



fountain drips and sings ; a flight of stairs leads 
up to the basilica ; and two arcades of stone 
sweep round a portion of the front, in modest 
imitation of Bernini's colonnades. 

Much water must be tasted in this public 
square. The fountain dripping in the centre, 
called Our Lady's Spring, is said to be a wonder- 
working source. Einsiedeln is a place of miracles, 
but greater than all other miracles are those ■ 
effected at Our Lady's Spring. A statue of 
the Virgin stands below an open canopy, on 
seven grey marble shafts, and having on the 
apex an imperial crown, surmounted by those 
emblems of her queenly rank — a globe, a crescent, 
and a star. A wonder-working source, the pil- 
grims say it is ; at which the blind are made to see, 
the dumb are taught to speak, and perishing souls 
are purified from sin. A legend runs that once 
upon a time our Lord himself sat down beside 
this Virgin's spring, as He in other seasons sat 
by Jacob's well, and having cooled his lips with 
pure and copious draughts, rose up and left his 
blessing on the waters evermore. When first a 
pilgrim comes into the town, he hurries to 
this fountain in his search of grace. But here a 
trouble touches him. Instead of throwing out 



ST. meinrad's cell. 



205 



the water by a single jet, Our Lady's fountain 
drops it into troughs by fourteen different beaks 
— the beaks of mystic birds and beasts — in 
bronze. From which of these bronze beaks our 
Saviour drank no legend tells. Of fourteen, only 
one is blessed. To find that one without a guide 
is hopeless, and the fervent pngrim, to be sure of 
drinking from the true one, has to drink from all. 

A little of the nectar will not serve. A little 
washing will not cleanse from sin. The leper had 
to dip in Jordan several times. Nor is it well to 
slight so rare a gift. If you are bidden to a feast, 
you should not wrong your host by merely smiling 
at his fare. To thank him for his bounty, you 
must eat. In passing Jacob's well, no pious soul 
(supposing that the well has water in it) will 
be satisfied with a sip ; nor must the pilgrim at 
Our Lady's Spring be satisfied with tasting of 
the sacred jet. He ought to take his draught 
from every beak, and fourteen draughts of water 
are enough to quench his thirst, although the day 
be hot, and he has marched a dozen leagues. 

A hundred men and women are about the taps 
and troughs, each waiting for his turn to drink ; 
the men and women of all countries and all classes, 
and arrayed in every costume of the civilized 



206 



THE SWITZERS. 



earth. An English peeress stands beside a 
Swabian tramp ; a Belgian count is pressing on 
the toes of an Italian monk. Old soldiers, 
market - women, stalwart shepherds, sleek and 
subtle priests, young mothers with their babies 
at the breast, and hobbling grandsires, blear of 
eye and weak of arm, are struggling for a place. 
Some people — mostly women — push their way 
from beak to beak, all round the fountain, taking 
each in turn, and therefore certain of the tale ; 
but others have to cut in here and there, from 
number two to number seven, from number nine 
to number twelve ; and these poor souls are 
puzzled at the end of a long effort as to whether 
they have drunk from each and all. If any doubt 
is on then minds, they must begin afresh. 

Yes — here is Sister Agnes in the crowd ! Her 
garb is dustier, and her face more tanned; but 
in her recognising glance there is a memory of 
that wayside cross by which she sat, that glacier 
where she lost her way and fell, that sunset talk 
from which she turned and fled. She shrinks, no 
little frightened, from the stout Teutonic dames 
and lasses, who invade the taps and troughs, and 
swagging heavy skirts about them, push and 
shoulder off the weaker fry of pilgrims. 



ST. meinrad's cell. 



207 



Sister Agnes looks at me and asks, — 'Will 
you not drink — the waters have been blessed V 

' Do you accept this legend of the spring V 
I ask a Benedictine father, who has joined us 
in the square. 

'Why not?' exclaims the priest, forestalling 
what the Benedictine father is about to say ; 
e in every age, at every corner of this holy place, 
you find a miracle— a fire put out, a demon exor- 
cised, a battle won by prayer, a pest subdued, a 
maniac cured, a prisoner released, a shipwrecked 
sailor saved, an inundation stopped, a withered 
hand restored, a dumb man taught to speak, a 
bilious fever cooled, a paralytic healed — then, 
why not trust a miracle at Our Lady's 
Spring ? * 

c It is not written in our books/ the calmer 
Benedictine father adds. 4 We have a list ot 
supernatural graces on our record; they extend 
through many ages, and these graces have 
not ended yet, we trust ; but in these special 
acts of providence we find no record of our 
Saviour s visit to this spring/ 

c Your list is incomplete/ the priest exclaims ; 
' you leave out all your greater miracles ; though 
these are certified by holy men, and recognised 



208 



THE SWITZERS. 



as true in Rome. You drop the miracle of 
Meinrad and the ravens ; nay, you drop the 
miraculous dedication of Our Lady's shrine/ 

St. Meinrad was of noble race. His father, 
Berthold of Hohenzollern, sent him as a boy to 
Reichenau, an island in the Zeller See. A Bene- 
dictine abbey stood upon that isle. Of this great 
abbey two of Meinrad s uncles were the chiefs, 
and here he closed his studies, chose his part in 
life, and took upon himself religious vows. His 
youth, his learning, and his noble mien attracted 
every eye. A small society of monks at Bollingen, 
on the upper Lake of Zurich, wanting a director 
of their studies, begged him to accept this office. 
In his modesty of soul he would have put their 
offer by, but his superior in the convent laid the 
duty of acceptance on him. As he passed through 
Zurich to the upper Lake, he waited on the 
Lady abbess, who received him with the highest 
favour, and enriched him with an image of the 
Virgin and her Child, just large enough for him 
to carry in his arms and hang upon his convent 
wall. This image afterwards attained miraculous 
fame. From Bollingen the youthful Benedictine 
gazed across the lake, and peering through the 
lonely hills and forests on her southern borders, 



ST. meinrad's cell. 209 

felt a passionate yearning rise within him to 
ascend those heights and seek in those dark 
solitudes some spot where he might hide him 
from the sight of living men. St. John the Bap- 
tist was his favourite saint, and, like the Nazarite, 
he would live alone. He crossed the lake, 
with nothing in his hands except his rule, his 
missal, and his image of the Mother and her 
Child. He clambered to Mount Etzel, where he 
dug a cave and built a cross. But shepherds 
from the alps and dwellers from the water-side 
came up to him in search of spiritual light and 
help ; for Meinrad was a great confessor of men's 
sins ; and though his rule was strict, and he was 
plain of speech, yet people flocked to him from 
east and west. Mount Etzel grew into a busy 
place, and he began to fear it, as a spot too 
lovely and too near the world. No hiding from 
the sight of men on such a hill ! Behind him, 
in the mountains, lay a wild, impenetrable wood, 
then known to shepherds as the Sombre Forest. 
Pushing through the firs and stones he came 
upon a spring of water, and, the spot being rude 
and lonely, he was minded to accept the sign and 
dig his cell. He built a chapel for his image 
of the Virgin and her Child ; he fetched his 

P 



210 



THE SWITZEKS. 



missal and his homilies from Mount Etzel ; and 
he spent his days and years, in this wild nook, 
in company with two ravens, and engaged in 
pondering on the sacred mysteries of our faith. 
A crowd of people followed to his cell, where 
he received and helped them as of yore, until 
two robbers, whom he took into his cabin, 
thinking he was rich, laid hold of him, and 
clubbed him till he died. 

Not finding what they sought — for Meinrad 
left no riches save his book, his image, and his 
shirt of hair — the murderers fled towards Zurich, 
followed by the ravens, which pursued them with 
avenging cries. The murderers could not drive 
these ravens off. At Zurich they retired into an 
inn ; but the avenging ravens dashed against 
the windows of their room ; got into it ; and 
flew upon them till the magistrates of Zurich, 
hearing of this mystery, came up, and caused 
inquiry to be made. When they were brought 
before the court, these murderers confessed their 
crime. 

' That miracle of the ravens is attested by 
your records/ says the priest; 'you have the 
ravens on your coat-of-arms/ 

The Benedictine father smiles. 



ST. meinrad's cell. 



211 



A flock of anchorites soon gathered round 
St. Meinrad's Cell, and lived in scattered cabins 
up and down the valley, till St. Eberhard built 
a church, in which he hung the sacred image of 
the Virgin and her Child. This shrine was the 
begmning of Einsiedeln. When the edifice was 
ready, Conrad, bishop of Constanz, came to con- 
secrate it ; but on going into the church at night 
with several of his monks to say a prayer, he 
was amazed to see the chapel filled with heavenly 
light, and Christ, attended by the four evan- 
gelists, standing at the altar, consecrating it with 
His own hand and voice. A cloud of angels 
scattered incense round ; St. Michael led a choir 
of singers ; while St. Peter and St. Gregory stood 
behind our Lord. The bishop lay upon the floor 
in prayer until eleven o'clock next day. Sup- 
posing that he was asleep, the fathers pulled his 
robe, on which he turned and told them all that 
he had seen. They thought him dreaming still. 
At last, consenting to proceed with the con- 
secration, he began the rite, but hardly had 
he opened, when a Voice, which filled the church 
from crypt to roof, cried, ' Cessa, cessa, frater ! 
Capella divinitus consecrata est V Then Conrad 
paused ; a greater one had done his office ; 



212 



THE SWITZERS. 



and the dedication of Our Lady's chapel was 
complete. 

1 That miracle of the consecration is attested 
by your records/ says the priest. 

A pause. The Benedictine father seems con- 
tent to let the subject drop ; on noting which the 
priest turns round on me with a peculiar shrug. 

£ It was a miracle to need a good deal of 
attesting/ I remark. 

' It is attested by St. Conrad, who composed 
a book — ' De Secretis Secretorum' — about it, by 
Pope Leo VIII., by Kaiser Otto, by Ulric the 
monk, and many others. Leo's bull, in favour of 
that miracle, has been sustained by Innocent IV, 
Martin IV, and Nicolas IV. Ten later popes 
have ratified these briefs of former popes. If 
testimony counts for anything, that miracle of 
the consecration of the Virgin s chapel is a well- 
attested fact/ 

The Benedictine father smiles, but with the 
faintest spectre of a smile. Again the priest 
looks round at me, and adds, in somewhat banter- 
ing tone : ' Like Meinrad on Mount Etzel, we 
have found the world too near us. If we kept it 
farther off, we should not send so much of Mein- 
rad s gold to the United States/ 



ST. meinrad's cell. 



213 



St. Meinrad's gold to the United States ! The 
sneer is based on fact, and thereby hangs a tale. 
In 1848, alarmed by what was taking place 
at Fribourg and Luzern, the fathers gathered in 
their sheaves, and sent a good]y portion of their 
stock to Indiana, where they built themselves 
a second and what seemed a safer home. Their 
farm and church in the United States are man- 
aged by an English monk. As yet, the fathers 
have not had to fly ; nor do the faithful at Ein- 
siedeln care to talk about that property laid up 
in foreign lands for future use. Such worldly 
prudence seems to cast some doubt upon their 
confidence in the Virgin and her Child. 

In crossing the great square again, we 
notice Sister Agnes at Our Lady's Spring, and 
help her to secure her draughts of water. At 
the fourteenth beck, she drops her beads, and 
looks a little faint. 

'Have you to walk so far as the nunnery, 
In der Au, to sleep ? ' 

' No, not so far. The nights are dark ; the 
roads are very rough. We are allowed to lodge 
near by. To-morrow is our Festival of the 
Rosary. We must be up and stirring long before 
the daylight comes/ 



214 



CHAPTEE XXII, 

FEAST OF THE ROSARY. 

Wha-a-ang ! You start in bed. Hollo ! What 
noise is that ? What shakes the house — a strong 
stone house — and breaks jour slumber like a shot ? 
A gun ! How can it be a gun ? What maniac 
would be firing cannons in a church at dead of 
night? Some meteor must have fallen on the 
earth ; some mountain may have slipped into the 
ravine. Wha-ang ! Again ; what can it mean ? 
You spring upon the boards ; you dash the window 
open ; and you peer into the murky void. All 
gloom of mist, and patter of descending rain. A 
gust of wind flies at you. Puh ! a flash is on 
your face — a crash is in your ears. A gun — 
assuredly a gun this time ! But why this fury 
in the silent hours, and on the morning of a sacred 
day? Can these be men of Schwyz descending 
from the Katzenstrick once more ? 

You screw the window tight — observe that 



FEAST OF THE ROSARY. 



215 



it is three o'clock — and shiver into bed. You 
close your eyes and try to fall asleep. Five 
minutes — whang ! ten minutes — whang ! The 
walls vibrate, the windows fly, the doors and 
rafters groan. You wait the shots, and count 
them ; — five, seven, ten — whang, whang ! At 
length you strike a light and ring a bell. 
' What's all this row about V 

' This row/ exclaims the sleepy house-lad ; 
' don't you know what day it is ? ' 

'You mean the Festival of the Rosary ?' 

6 Yes ; and that is why they fire the guns. 
It is Our Lady's day.' 

'But why these guns?' 

'Because it is Our Lady's day. Why guns? 
To rouse the sleepers from their beds. No 
man should miss the early mass on Mary's 
day.' 

Whang! — whang! You rise and dress; for 
in this narrow valley, closed on every side with 
rocks and capped with woods, no mortal ear 
could close on these awakening guns. Already 
in the streets 'below you catch a sound of hurry- 
ing feet and whispering tongues. Already in the 
great dim square, between the village and the 
church, you catch the forms of spectral pilgrims. 



216 



THE SWITZERS. 



flitting through the rain and crouching at Our 
Lady's Spring. A light is burning in the 
church ; and as the final gun explodes, the two 
tall belfries fling into the darkness such a peal 
of bells as men will seldom hear from convent 
tower except in Moscow. All the world is now 
astir and in the streets ; men, women, children ; 
soldiers, monks, professors ; bar-maids, nurses, 
teachers ; huddling through the darkness and the 
rain to early mass, in answer to that battle-cry 
of prayer. 

At four o'clock, two hours before the sun will 
rise, an early mass is given before Our Lady's 
shrine ; before the image which St. Meinrad carried 
to his desert cell. 

This image is the subject of a hundred 
miracles. Three times the church has been de- 
stroyed by fire, and every time the flames have 
spared this piece of art. It has escaped the 
ancient Switzers and the modern French. A 
Benedictine is not fond of France ; and when the 
French broke into Switzerland, this church and 
convent soon became their spoil. The Virgin's 
chapel was destroyed ; the crowns and plaques of 
gold were stolen ; and the sacred bones were 
pitched into a common sink. The image ? Well ; 



FEAST OF THE ROSAKY. 



217 



those Frenchmen took it down; they found the 
robes were tinsel, and the stones were false. They 
carried it to Paris as a relic of the times and 
countries where a people, not insane, could worship 
stocks and stones. But when the Benedictines 
were restored they brought their image with them, 
not from France, but from the Tyrol ; saying, that 
the statue carried off to Paris was a false one, 
made by cunning people, when the fathers fled, 
for the rapacious French to steal. 

A church of ample size, arranged with choir 
and altar, and adorned with paint and gilding in 
the newest Roman style, is all a-blaze with lights 
and thronged with worshippers. In glow of 
colour and in warmth of life, the scene is 
Spanish and Sicilian. Above, on groin and vault, 
on shaft and niche, are saints and angels, ara- 
besques and flowers, alive with red and blue, and 
tricked with bars and rims of gold. Below, the 
floors are rich with monks and nuns, with youths 
and girls ; the men with cloaks and wallets, and 
the girls with red and yellow skirts. A man is 
kneeling here and there, but, as in Italy and 
Spain, the female pilgrims count as five to one. 
Two altars in the nave appear to draw more pil- 
grims than the rest — although a pilgrim needs to 



218 



THE SWITZERS. 



take these altars all in turn, lest he should vex 
some powerful saint. These favourites are the 
altars of St. Rosary and St, Meinrad, both of 
which are bright with paint and lamps. Above 
St. Rosary is painted Jacob's ladder, with the 
angels tripping up and down, and in a scroll these 
words of Scripture — e Surely the Lord is in this 
place.' St. Meinrad is depicted in his desert cell. 
Each altar has a separate crowd, and in a church 
so vast each crowd has room to pray apart ; but 
when the mass commences in Our Lady's chapel, 
every eye is turned, and every head is bent to- 
wards this miraculous shrine. 

Our Lady's chapel, dark and sombre, stands 
beneath the painted dome, and in the centre of a 
painted nave, as those who built it meant that it 
should look — a tomb in one vast field of flowers. 

A small black shrine, with figures carved in 
wood and painted white, with open grill in front, 
and two small entrance-doors, this chapel is about 
the size of the Holy Sepulchre. Six lamps were 
once kept burning at the shrine ; each Catholic 
Canton in the League supplying oil for one un- 
dying lamp ; but now the Radicals are masters, 
they have let these fights die out for lack of 
oil. No light is wanting now ; for every pilgrim 



FEAST OF THE ROSARY. 



219 



has it on his soul to give one dip at least ; and 
every corner of the shrine, from grill to shaft and 
ledge, is reeking with the stench, and cracking 
with the heat of melting wax. 

A priest and his assistants stand within the 
holy place. Around the iron grills and sombre 
shafts, a mighty throng of pilgrims swarm to 
pray ; three thousand at the least ; in whom 
the passions that are more than mortal burn with 
a mysterious flame. To all these prostrate souls, 
the figure of the Virgin is no log of withering 
pine, all carved and overlaid, but an abiding 
eidolon, in which the woman without sin has 
taken up her rest. Except before the Iberian 
gate in Moscow, where the picture of the Black 
Virgin of Iberia hangs, my eyes have seen no 
sight like this before Our Lady's shrine. All 
passions seem to sway these groups by turn. 
One instant they are dumb with terror of the 
burning lights ; next moment they are wild and 
loud with the exulting chant. Some beat their 
faces on the flags ; some toss their arms above 
their heads ; and some cry out in pain and 
passion, ' Mary, Mary ! save us, save us from 
the deathless pit/ A dozen women start upon 
their feet and fumble in their skirts for coin. 



220 



THE SWITZERS. 



c A light, give me a light ! ' they scream. A 
church official sells them dips, which they ignite 
and fasten to the marble shrine, till the funereal 
chapel is one mass of burning stars. A low and 
musical voice intones the mass. A tiny silver 
bell rings out the points ; and when the host 
is raised, a gunshot crashes through the aisles, 
and every heart leaps up. A pause — a listening 
wonder — till the echoes die away from choir and 
vault ; and then a cry of rapture greets that 
miracle which is renewed from day to day — that 
transformation of the actual flesh and blood into 
the visible bread and wine. 

When mass is ended, every face seems flushed 
with an unearthly light, as though these pilgrims 
have been blessed with glimpses of an unknown 
world. It passes from them in a moment like 
a smile ; but while it lingers on their brows 
and in their eyes, these shepherds from the alps, 
these weavers from the hamlets, are as lovely in 
their rapture of expression as a brotherhood of 
painted saints. 

From five to six we loiter in the ample nave ; 
inspect the votive offerings nailed on door and 
slung on rail — a waxen doll, a bit of half-burnt 
rag, a daub of some miraculous cure — each offer- 



FEAST OF THE ROSARY. 



221 



ing with an image of the Virgin and her Child ; 
move forward with the crowd from shrine to 
shrine, and drop a prayer at each in turn — St. 
Anne, St. Joseph, and St. Benedict in chief; per- 
use the list of abbots who have reigned and died 
here, from St. Eberhard, Count of Franconia, 959, 
down to the Reverend Celestin Miiller, of Schme- 
rikon, Canton St. Gallen, 1845 ; including — third 
upon the list — St. Gregory, (called a son of Edward 
the Elder, king of England, brother-in-law of kaiser 
Otto), in whose person the abbot of Einsiedeln 
was created an imperial prince. 

At six o'clock the sun rises, and at six o'clock 
there is a special service for the rising of our con- 
vent sun, St. Meinrad. In this special service we 
include St. Eberhard, and the other holy men who 
aided him to found this temple in a desert place. 
When this is done, a priest and acolyte repair to 
one of the side altars, where they chant a verse, 
and then turn round upon the kneeling crowds, 
and bless the rosaries which the pilgrims carry in 
their hands. Some pilgrims take advantage of 
the priest to get his blessing on a dozen things 
besides their beads — a charm, a crucifix, a bunch 
of ribbons, nay, a box of toys — by holding them 
in front of him together with the beads. No 



222 



THE SW1TZERS. 



charge is made for blessing these mementoes of 
Einsiedeln, but a pilgrim who has money in his 
purse is taught the duty of investing some of it 
with God. Upstairs there is a passage with a 
grill, at which a priest is stationed to receive 
such gifts, and bless the bringers with a special 
grace. 

At seven o'clock, the abbot, Heinrich IV., 
comes down into the church, attended by his 
clergy, and ascends his throne, while three supe- 
rior priests perform high mass in the grand sanc- 
tuary ; a picturesque and noble rite, regarded 
merely as a work of musical and scenic art. Three 
organs and a band assist the choir ; these organs, 
raised aloft in singing galleries, are extremely fine 
in tone. A learned Benedictine, Pater Schubiger, 
known as author of the ' Roses de Marie/ makes 
the music, and in part conducts the service. 
Abbot Heinrich Schmid, of Baar, in Canton Zug, 
a grave and passive man, with ample face, white 
hair, and noble aspect, looks the prince which 
pious pilgrims call him, though his temporal rank 
and power are gone. The three officiating priests 
are richly clothed ; the singers are concealed from 
sight ; and when the host is raised — the cannon 
fired — three thousand kneeling figures bend their 



FEAST OF THE ROSARY. 



223 



temples to the floor, and fling their arms about 
in ecstasies of pain and bliss. 

At eight o'clock there is a sermon, chiefly an 
account, in ghostly phrase, of the fifteen mysteries 
of the rosary. A rosary was a form of prayer before 
it was a string of beads — a form of prayer divided 
into three parts and fifteen decades — so called from 
each decade retaining ten Ave Marias. To say a 
whole rosary, with its fifteen Pater Nosters, and 
its ten times fifteen Ave Marias, is to do a good 
and perfect work. It is a saving office of the 
Church ; a solace to the poor, the ignorant, the 
despised of men ; to those for whom onr Lord was 
sent, from whom He chose his twelve Apostles, 
and on whom He built his everlasting Church. 

At nine we break our fast ; but soon return 
from inn and guest-room to the confessional. 
This confessional, called a Penitentiary, and dedi- 
cated to the Sinner of Magdala, is a low and 
vaulted chapel, built among the graves of ancient 
monks — a dark and noisome place, in which a 
single lamp burns dimly, and a watery kind of 
light creeps in through grated openings in the 
wall. A dirge is being howled behind a screen. 
A solitary priest is serving in the gloom. Dark 
frescoes, chiefly smoke and fire, adorn the 



224 



THE SWITZERS. 



roof. Along this chapel of the Magdalen, two 
rows of penitential chairs are placed for the con- 
fessors and the pilgrims — twenty-eight in number 
— each confessional marked, according to the lan- 
guage spoken by the ghostly father, as either 
German, French, or Romonsch. In each a priest 
is seated, listening to a tale of sin and shame, 
while troops of penitents are kneeling, rank on 
rank, each waiting for his call. At some con- 
fessionals two penitents are busy with one priest. 
Much practice makes men perfect in all trades, 
even that of searcliing hearts. These fathers 
have no time to lose. They shrive four hundred 
sinners on an average every day the whole year 
round. To-day the number to be heard is close 
upon two thousand souls ; and, let these fathers 
labour as they may, this crowd of sinners yearn- 
ing to be cleansed will not be all confessed and 
shriven before the hour of midnight chimes. 

At three o'clock come vespers in the sanctuary, 
sung by an invisible choir. At the cry of praise 
all voices drop, and every one kneels down. First 
ring the boyish altos, then the men roll in with 
middle note and bass. All female lips are closed, 
for in these Catholic offices a woman has no place. 
At half-past three o'clock the fathers march in 



FEAST OF THE ROSARY. 



225 



ranks along the nave, into the Virgin's chapel, 
where they chant a special service at her shrine, 
A pilgrim looks upon this office as the crowning 
worship of his day. His heart may now be light 
and glad ; he may have told his sin and got his 
shrift. His beads and trinkets have been blessed, 
and in his rapture he is like a little child. Instead 
of praying, he can praise ; instead of grovelling, he 
can now adore. When this great act is over, there 
is still more blessing of the rosaries, along with 
books and medals, candles, rings, and rolls of wax." 

At four o'clock we go away to dine, and come 
again at seven o'clock for complines. It is dark 
again ; and yet the duties of the Penitentiary 
are still going on. A gun-shot breaks the mur- 
mur of a thousand eager tongues. Lay brothers 
sweep the lights out ; and a crowd of pilgrims 
turn their faces to the world. Yet many stay 
behind; and when you steal into the church at 
midnight you may find some penitents lingering 
in the Magdalen's vault. 



Q 



226 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

LAST OF THE BENEDICTINES. 

■ Yes : we are the last/ says Pater Morel, Ptector 
of the seminary, as we cross the square ; ( the 
last of our old Order in this country, where we 
held in former days so many abbeys of the highest 
class — St. Gallen, Muri, Hheinau, Dissentis, and 
PfafTers, for example. All these great establish- 
ments have fallen. We, of Meinrad s Cell, are left 
alone ; it may be, under Providence, for our 
labour's sake. Who else would take the charge 
of all these penitents V 

With the sole exception of Einsiedeln, all the 
Benedictine abbeys in this country have been 
seized by orders from the Cantonal officers, and 
their lands and goods divided by the state, as 
convents have been seized by orders from the 
royal officers in Italy and Spain. These abbeys 
only suffer in the common wreck of all religious 
houses, whether those of Capuchins, Augustines, 



LAST OF THE BENEDICTINES. 



227 



Jesuits, or Franciscans. The Switzers want their 
money, and these Switzers take this money with 
no more remorse of mind than the Italians feel 
in seizing Rome. 

One instance may be cited. On a spot of 
land surrounded by the Rhine, and looking over 
into Baden, stands the great Benedictine abbey of 
Rheinau ; once a famous seat of learning and a 
home of all the liberal arts. A school is wanted 
by the public, and as Bheinau is supposed to be 
extremely rich, a bill is brought into the Council, 
authorising the state to close that abbey, turn the 
monks adrift, and $eize their lands and goods 
for public use. In vain the fathers plead that 
what they have belongs to Holy Church. In 
vain they offer to divide their wealth. In vain 
they ask for leave to found a college, build an 
hospice, raise the pay of Catholic priests. The 
bill is passed, the abbey seized. A sum of 
3,328,000 francs is taken from the Order, and 
dispersed as follows: — 

To the parish of Bheinau . . 250,000 frs. 

Pensions to dispossessed fathers . 300,000 

Given to Catholic Communes . . 700,000 

Spent on schools . . . . 2,078,000 



3,328,000 



228 



THE SWITZERS. 



What is done at Rheinau has been done 
elsewhere, according to the local need. The 
great abbey of St. Gallen has been turned into 
a barrack and infirmary ; that of Dissentis, from 
which the Prince-abbot, Christian von Castelberg, 
defied and damned the Swiss Reformers, has been 
turned into a secondary school for boys. The not 
less splendid abbey of Pfaffers is a lunatic asylum, 
and the abbot's palace at Ragatz an inn. 

Five reasons have been given by writers on 
the Benedictine Order for the favour which sur- 
rounds the fathers at Einsiedeln : — first, the high 
protection of their Virgin ; next, the grace of 
their religious calling ; third, the homeliness of 
their manners ; then, the state of their relations 
with great people ; fifth, the visible utility of 
their presence on the spot. 

There is another reason still — the policy of 
that homely saw which hints that a wise house- 
keeper should not kill a bird that lays him golden 
eggs. 

The porches of the abbey look into the town ; 
a very curious town ; what Canterbury was when 
knight and reeve, and clerk and nun, rode into 
it on pilgrimage with the abbot and the wife 
of Bath. Einsiedeln is a town of inns and shops, 



LAST OF THE BENEDICTINES. 



229 



and all ablaze with signs and flags. St. Meinrad 
has a separate flag from Canton Schwyz, — a 
blood-red field, on which, instead of a simple 
cross, is ]imned the Virgin and her Child. St. 
Meinrad's banner floats from nearly every door 
and cill. One line of tall, squat houses fronts 
the church and belfries ; every house in that long 
line, save one, a public inn. These inns are known 
by saintly names — St. John, St. Joseph, and St. 
Catharine ; Holy Anchorites, Three Kings and 
Cloister Gardens — with the Sun, the Forest, and 
the Peacock. Pilgrims of the wiser sort avoid 
all inns with saintly names. In rear of these 
large houses stand a motley group of taverns, 
dropping in the scale of comfort as they back to 
narrow lanes and courts, until you rind some 
poorer guest-rooms, where the peasant -pilgrims 
lodge by tens and twenties in a single room. In 
such poor rooms the pilgrims pack themselves by 
night on shelves. The charge is nowhere high ; 
and in these modest stalls it is one penny each, 
paid down at night before ascending to your shelf. 

Much trade is driven in relics, pictures, beads, 
and photographs — in crosses, medals, rings, and 
cotton prints — in earrings, candles, books — in 
amulets, gingerbread, and charms — as well as hi 



230 THE SWITZERS. 

the things that will not keep — in sausages, cigars, 
and schnaps. The street is full of shops, and the 
arcades beside Our Lady's spring are full of 
shops. Yet this large Gentile court is not enough, 
and wings of timber-sheds run off on either side 
the convent walls, like booths in country fairs, 
where objects still more trashy — tinsel saints 
and wooden dolls — are spread along the boards 
for sale. 

The dealers in these articles of devotion have a 
bad name in the convent, which these dealers 
seem to treat as lawful prize, provided for them by 
their saints. In fact, the Commune of Einsiedeln 
claim the abbey of Einsiedeln as their own. They, 
not the fathers, are, they say, the permanent 
owners. They are natives of the soil, while many 
of the fathers are not Switzers born. The fathers 
come and go ; the villagers live and die upon the 
spot. 

Some years ago, when putting in this claim, 
the Commune seized the lordship of this abbey, 
with a great part of the forests, lands, and farms 
belonging to its lord. An armed band profaned 
the holy place, and Heinrich Schmid, the abbot, 
was obliged to yield. The last poor remnant of 
his princely power was gone ; and henceforth, 



LAST OF THE BENEDICTINES. 



231 



he and his must keep on terms with village 
mayor and village council if they wish to live 
in peace. Where once the abbots reigned, they 
have to sue ; and men who used to grovel in 
the dust before their thrones, now take their 
money and their goods as lightly as a German 
company levies war-tax on the conquered French. 
The Commune feel, however, that they must 
not go too far ; it would not serve their turn 
to drive these fathers from St. Meinrad's Cell into 
some other place. They might secrete their 
Virgin once again, and then the tide of pilgrims 
would be turned another way. 

In seeking strength abroad against these foes 
at home, the fathers are supposed to turn with 
too much longing to each rising sun. "When 
kaiser Francis Joseph was a mighty potentate, 
the monks approached him with a prayer that he 
would take them under his august protection, like 
his ancestors the Dukes of Austria. Francis 
Joseph sent them gracious words, together with 
his portrait. After Solferino, they approached 
Napoleon III. Hortense, on making pilgrimage 
to Einsiedeln, wrote these words : ' I wish to place 
myself and my infants under the protection of the 
Holy Virgin.' They reminded him of these good 



232 



THE SWITZERS. 



words ; he sent his portrait, and a gilded chan- 
delier. They next approached the Pope, and 
got his portrait and his blessing. Prussia could 
not be neglected, Lutheran though she is ; and 
they contrived to get a small and unobtrusive 
portrait of her king. But after Sadowa, they 
felt how much that small and unobtrusive por- 
trait was unworthy of so great a man. Re- 
minding Wilhelm that St. Meinrad was a Hohen- 
zollern, they succeeded in procuring for their 
abbey an enlarged and powerful portrait of the 
kaiser-king. 

Except the pilgrim's mite, the fathers have no 
visible income to maintain their sacred edifice and 
conventual buildings other than the proceeds of 
their schools. These Benedictine schools, of which 
my host is Rector, have a fame in Catholic homes, 
like that of Zurich schools hi scientific homes. The 
Reverend Pater Morel is a poet, of the class and 
rank of our own Southwell. His religious reve- 
ries, mostly turning on the graces and perfections 
of his Patroness, are read in many cities of the Old 
World and the New. A copy of his poems lies 
before me in two volumes, with the imprint of 
New York. But, like his brethren of a brighter 
time, he is a man of many sides ; a critic, an 



LAST OP THE BENEDICTINES. 



233 



historical writer, and an antiquary. In his hands 
the seminaries seem to hold their own ; two hun- 
dred names are on his books ; and yet, in going 
through the class-rooms, one is struck with the 
great number of foreign scholars in these famous 
schools. Not many of the traders of Einsiedeln 
send their children to the monks. 

A goodly number of these pupils are intended 
for the priesthood ; but the sciences and arts are 
widely taught. Much time is given to music in 
its many branches ; singing, both in solo and in 
chorus ; playing on the several kinds of horn, pre- 
siding at the organ, and composing masses, over- 
tures, and psalms. A thousand years ago, the 
Benedictines of these districts had a great renown 
as singers. Pater Schubiger, ex-chapel-master of 
Einsiedeln, has composed a history of the St. 
Gallen school of singing from the eighth century 
to the twelfth. A something of this antique fame 
remains, and since the Benedictine abbey of St. 
Gallen was suppressed, this art, like many of her 
sisters — painting, carving, casting, building, — has 
to seek a home in this last refuge of the learned 
and despairing monks. 

A hundred members make the last society of 
this illustrious order ; seventy fathers, fifteen 



234 THE SWITZERS. 

acolytes, and fifteen lay brethren ; in the whole 
a hundred souls devoted to religious work ; in- 
cluding all that books and arts can offer to their 
church. These numbers may not be increased, 
though the conventual buildings might contain 
five hundred more. One hundred fathers are 
supposed to be enough to do what needs be 
done ; to say the masses, hear confessions, sing 
vespers, and receive the pilgrim pence. Schwyz 
rules it so ; and from the Canton there is no 
appeal. 

All other bodies in this country have some 
liberty of action. Take the League of Griitli, 
the Firing Club, the International, the Society of 
Public Usefulness ; all these societies, and hun- 
dreds like them, are allowed to make their own 
rules, admit their own members, and increase 
their numbers as they please. The Benedictine 
fathers at Eiusiedeln, though they owned this 
hamlet long before the name of Schwyz arose, are 
not permitted by their Canton to receive one monk 
beyond the hundred fixed for them by law. 

A hundred fathers are not many for the work 
they have to do. Much farming, gardening, cook- 
ing, carving, painting, modelling, and the like, 
must needs be done. Not only have the great 



LAST OF THE BENEDICTINES. 



235 



basilica and the convent to be kept in order, but 
a number of dependent shrines demand some care. 
St. Meinrad's well, a chapel on the road to Biber- 
bruck, requires some care ; the chapel on Mount 
Etzel needs some care ; the nunnery In der Au 
requires some care. Fifteen lay monks are not too 
many for these various tasks. Nor are these 
brethren men to waste their time in hedge and 
ditch, Brother Mannhardt is an excellent carver. 
He has carved and built an altar-piece, which, in 
a showy Roman style, is not unworthy of his 
convent in her better days. Brother Blatter, a 
professor of design, not only teaches in his class- 
room, but repairs and ornaments his church. One 
learned brother has the care of coins and medals, 
while another takes the stables and the farms. 

A dozen services a-day, not counting the con- 
fessions, have to be performed in public, with the 
pomp and awe of Catholic worship. Schools have 
to be kept, and visits paid, Some study must 
be done, and many visitors, who take up time, 
must be received. A band of seventy monks 
and fifteen acolytes would not seem many for 
these various labours ; but the service of con- 
fession is the greatest work of all. If seventy 
monks had nothing else to do but shrive the 



236 



THE SWITZERS. 



penitents, they could not lead an idle life. Above 
four hundred pilgrims kneel to them each day 
throughout the year; six sinners to each monk 
the whole year round. 

Yet some of these hard-working fathers find 
the time to write ; and write such books as learned 
men can praise. The abbot, Heinrich, has the 
reputation of a scholar. Pater Brandis has an 
European name. 

'We are the last/ sighs Pater Morel, as we 
pass from room to room — now echoing to our 
steps — of this magnificent seat of learning. 'Yes; 
St. Gallen, Muri, Dissentis, were once our rivals 
in the work of God ; but they are gone the way 
of instruments used up and thrown aside ; and 
we of Meinrad s Cell are left to carry on the work 
alone. We do our best, although it is not much. 
We try to keep alive some sense of sacred art — 
some love of sacred music — some desire for 
sacred letters — in an age devoted to material 
things. We do our duty, as the task is laid 
upon us, and we hope to do that duty to the 
end.' 



237 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 

CONFLICT OF THE CHURCHES. 

No cause could justify the wrongs — the open 
and intentional wrongs — inflicted on religious 
orders in this country, but a strong conviction 
working in men's minds, and driving them to 
acts beyond excuse on lower grounds, that these 
religious orders are the foreposts of an enemy 
planted on their soil. In such a case appeals are 
vain ; the public safety is the highest law. 

No man with eyes to see can live in Switzer- 
land a month without perceiving that this strong 
conviction, whether it be right or wrong, is one 
of the primary forces in all public life. What 
else has driven the Jesuits from the soil ? Their 
case is very hard. A man is born in Bern ; he 
goes to school in Paris ; he returns in after-life 
to Bern, with five or six of his old school-fellows. 
He and they are members of some foreign league 
or order. No one cares about them. Every Switzer 



238 



THE SWITZEKS. 



is a member of some dozen leagues, societies, and 
orders — native orders, foreign orders, private, 
civic, and religious orders. He begins by being a 
member of his Commune, of his Canton, of his 
League. He is a member of the Sunday 
Society, the Society of Public Usefulness, the 
Swiss Alpine Club, the Band of Pio Nono, the 
Griitli Society, the International, the Society of 
St. Vincent de Paul, the League of Peace and 
Liberty, the Federal Shooting Association, the 
Society of Freemasons. He may be a member 
also of many local guilds and orders ; singing 
circles, democratic clubs, academies of art, gym- 
nastic unions, fire brigades, trade societies, anti- 
quarian and historical societies, and natural-his- 
tory clubs. A Switzer has organization on the 
brain. In two Swiss Cantons, and one Half- 
canton, an inquiry made into the number of 
societies known, and registered, gives the follow- 
ing facts : — 

In Schaffhausen, 87 Societies to . 35,500 souls. 
. „ Baselstadt, 126 „ „ . 40,683 
„ Geneva, 220 „ „ . 82,876 

In the several Cantons more than four thou- 
sand orders, bands, and societies are known. 
These bands and orders are of every sort and 



CONFLICT OF THE CHURCHES. 239 



size, with ends the most dissimilar in view. In 
Switzerland a man may be a Turk, a Jew, a 
Buddhist, a Confucian. No matter ; if he is a 
Switzer born he has his natural right ; and if 
he be a stranger in the land, he is protected 
by the Federal law. 

But if the little band should call themselves 
J esuits, down the Canton comes with heavy hand 
upon them. In Geneva, Jews have built a syna- 
gogue ; and no one could object if Parsees were 
to build a temple, and Mohammedans a mosque. 
But neither in Geneva, nor in any Canton of the 
League, dare any one erect a Jesuit college. If a 
Switzer joins the Mormons, no one interferes with 
him ; but if lie joins the Company of Jesus he 
foregoes his national rights. 

To pass and to preserve a law which stands 
in open contradiction to all other laws, there must 
be stern conviction in the popular mind that 
Jesuitism and freedom cannot grow together in a 
common soil. 

1 It is a conflict of the world against the 
church/ the Jesuits cry, on one side in the fray. 
' It is a victory of the native church against a 
foreign priest/ reply the Radicals on the other 
side. The Jesuits urge that every shred the 



240 



THE SWITZERS. 



world has ever saved from wreck is now at 
stake ; that learning, order, art, and freedom are 
about to perish ; and that nothing can redeem 
mankind but full and prompt submission to the 
Holy See. ' You have your choice/ shouts General 
Castella, in a recent speech to an excited crowd 
at Bulle, 'of two things one — holy water or 
petroleum ! ' 

The liberals answer that the world is pushing 
on, that men are better lodged and fed, that boys 
and girls are better taught, that public liberties 
are more secure, with every passing year. They 
say this progress is the working out of providential 
laws. A liberal puts an Evangelical district in 
the scale against a Catholic district — such as 
that of Appenzell-outer-Rhoden against Appen- 
zell-inner-Ehoden — and demands a verdict on 
the evidence of eye and ear. 

In outer aspect these Half-cantons have the 
differences of Canton Bern and Canton Valais. 
In the lower country, though the village may 
be built of frames, the style is pretty, the ar- 
rangement neat. A fountain and a running 
water occupy the centre. Near it stand the 
village church, the council-chamber, and the 
primary school. Each cottage has a garden to 



CONFLICT OF THE CHURCHES. 241 

itself. A creeper climbs up every stair, and 
hangs from almost every roof. The click and 
wliirr of looms are heard from every open 
window, and the little folk go singing on their 
way to school. The streets are clean, the mar- 
kets well supplied, and every one you meet is 
warmly clad. But in the upper country things 
look poor and bare. Few villagers are seen. The 
people dwell in scattered huts, with styes and 
stables on the ground, and sleeping-rooms above 
them, like the folks in Biscay and Navarre. 
These huts, though strongly knit, are rudely 
planned and roughly built. Each herdsman lives 
apart from all his fellows, whom he only meets 
at mass, at wrestling-match, and public-house. 
The lads can read and write, for they are Switzers, 
subject to the Cantonal law ; but books and 
journals are unknown among them, saving here 
and there some lives of saints and popular sheets, 
containing scraps of old-wives' lore in place of 
general and exciting news. 

The Protestant Half- canton grows in wealth 
and numbers, while the Catholic Half-canton lin- 
gers on in poverty and weakness ; for the first takes 
in all strangers, irrespective of their creed, gives 
ready welcome to ideas on all subjects, and adopts 



242 



THE SWITZERS. 



without delay improvements in the loom — her 
chief domestic engine ; while the second shuts 
her gates on all the world — on Protestants of 
every country, and on Catholics who are not 
natives of the Canton — keeps her antique sports 
and dress, retains her shepherd industries as they 
existed in the middle ages, keeps her feast-days and 
her wresthng-matches, feeds on coarse rye-bread 
and acid curds, and holds in proud contempt the 
arts by which her neighbours thrive. 

All Cantons of Teutonic race, in which the 
Catholics are in bulk the people, such as Uri, 
Zug, Luzern, and Unterwalden, are in most 
things very much like Catholic Appenzell. All 
Cantons of Teutonic race, in which the Pro- 
testants are in bulk the people, such as Basel, 
Bern, SchafFhausen, Glarus, and Thurgau, are 
in most things very much like Evangelical Ap- 
penzell. 

In Catholic Cantons there is one exception to 
this rule of dirt and dearth — the city of Luzern. 
This city has a bright and cheery aspect, more like 
Zurich and Lausanne than Altdorf, Stanz, and Zug. 
This cheery face is not a product of the system and 
the soil. It is a new and foreign growth. Not long 
ago, Luzern, the home of priestly rule, the shrine 



CONFLICT OF THE CHURCHES. 243 

of mercenary troops, was little better than a fever- 
bed. The dykes were weak, the waters swelled into 
the streets, and every flood left pestilence behind. 
But strangers come into the town, attracted by 
her beauty, who enrich it with their gold. For 
them, wide streets are cleared, stone bridges built, 
fine walks laid out. A line of great hotels ex- 
tends along the lake. But enterprise without 
implies some enterprise within. A man who 
takes much pains to set his house in order soon 
begins to set his mind in order likewise. Even 
in Luzern a democratic party has grown up, 
who hold their own against the priests, 

This conflict of the democrats and theocrats 
is not confined to the Germanic Cantons. It 
is equally appparent in the French. In Carteret's 
report on the Project of Law for Canton Geneva, 
it came out in stronger terms than any used in 
Zurich, Bern, and Basel. Every liberal would 
be glad to stop all public payments for the 
Calvinistic chair of theology in Geneva ; but 
while sums are voted in the Catholic Cantons 
for the teaching of a Boman catechism in the 
primary schools, the liberals of Geneva hold 
their hands, and keep the chair provided by the 
Protestant constitution of their city. What is 



THE SWITZERS. 



right for one side in the strife is right for all. 
The principle is one thing, and the practice is 
another. ' The instruction given by the reli- 
gious corporations/ says M. Carteret, with a 
glance at Catholic teaching, '.is not teaching 
of a kind to form republican citizens worthy 
of this noble name. These congregations, in 
a land like ours, where the country makes 
such efforts to bring a good education to every 
man's door, can only fill a gap. There ought to 
be no gap. Their object is to train the young 
impressionable minds confided to their care into 
a firm belief that civil life should be subordinated 
to the church. When that idea gains the upper 
hand, alas for the people ! One direct and certain 
means of meeting this great obstacle exists : 
deprive the religious corporations altogether of 
their right to teach ! ' But Carteret refrains 
from carrying out his own suggestion ; seeing 
that he can only do so in his own Calvin istic 
Canton, while the Catholic Cantons will not 
follow in his wake. He therefore leaves the 
chair of Protestant theology untouched. 

No plan for reconciling these two parties 
in the Canton can be found. The points of 
difference lie in the essentials, not in the ex- 



CONFLICT OF THE CHURCHES. 245 : 



ternals ; and the systems are at war beyond the 
power of gods and men to cool their rage. De- 
mocracy will not give way ; theocracy will not 
give way. ' All men are equal/ runs the liberal 
creed, which takes no notice of original sin, the 
fall of man, and the prerogatives of a priestly 
class. ' Men have no rights/ says Rome, which 
holds her power from heaven, and scoffs at rights 
of man ; for men are fallen creatures, lost to 
grace, and only to be saved by strict obedience 
to her law. One creed is lay and civil, while the 
other creed assumes to be divine. The genius and 
the method are alike opposed. While Bern and 
Zurich lean on Luther and the great reformers, 
:Zug and Altdorf lean on Loyola and the great 
inquisitors. One system would excite, expand, 
and quicken thought; the other would subdue, 
contract, and paralyse it. Zurich frames a code 
by which it hopes to make the boy a pious, rea- 
soning, independent man ; while Zug and Uri 
frame their codes to make the boy a docile, 
listening, and submissive man. 

Each side has much to say in favour of its 
rule. 

' Born in a free state/ the liberals say ; 6 we 
have to teach our children how to live, and how 



-246 



THE SWITZERS. 



to keep their freedom. We avoid contention in 
the schools. We wish our sons to be religious ; 
but we will not have them quarrelling over 
creeds. We recognise a Christian life beyond 
the class-room. Of this Christian lifej the love 
of God, the fellowship of man, the purity of 
morals, are the noblest parts/ 

'All that is only negative/ the Jesuits an- 
swer. ' Your pretence of freedom is a dream. All 
souls are lost • and your devices will not save one 
soul from hell. We dare not trifle with our task. 
We are appointed to our work by God, and not 
by man. We cannot ask your councillors, elected 
by the lost ones, how we are to do our duty. 
When the blind conduct the blind, they fall into 
5 a pit ; and lo, the pit you march towards is the 
pit of fire ! 1 

This conflict of the churches rages in the 
schools. 



247 



CHAPTER XXV. 

SCHOOL. 

In Switzerland, the primary business of the state 
is keeping school. 

A School is one of the first things present to 
the eyes of a Swiss child, and one of the last 
things present to the mind of a Swiss man. It 
comes to him in his cradle and attends him to 
his grave. He could not cast it from him if 
he would ; he would not cast it from him if he 
could. 

A Swiss child dreams of school as urchins in 
an English city dream of work. He knows it is 
his fate in life. He sees his brother and his 
sister go to school ; he sees them bring their 
lessons home ; he sees them rise at dawn to learn 
their tasks. If he is stout of limb and clear of 
sight, his turn will come, and he must also troop 
to school. On coming to a certain age — in some, 
the age of six, in some of seven — his right to stay 



248 



THE SWITZERS. 



at home, to play at top and make mud-pies, will 
cease. He is a member of his Commune, and 
the Commune will not suffer him to live and die 
a pig. The school will seize him, hold him fast 
for years, and rear him into what he is to be : 
a banker, goatherd, student, tinker, what not; 
but in any case it will not lose its grasp until he 
grows into a man. But then an infant Swiss 
dreams pleasantly of school, while urchins in our 
country dream unpleasantly of work. If school 
is fate to a Swiss child, the vision comes to 
him in likeness of a fairy, not a hag. 

Among the many quaint old fountains in these 
streets of Bern — with heroes, knights, and ladies 
on the shafts — there is a fountain in the corn- 
market, with an ogre, known to Bernese little 
folks as kindli-fresser — children-catcher, — look- 
ing up the street. This ogre has a tooth for 
boys and girls, and clutches them as they go by. 
A child is disappearing down the monsters 
throat ; three children flutter in the monster s 
wallet ; and a bunch of children twist and wriggle 
in the monster's belt. That monster will devour 
them one and all. Grown men dispute about 
the legend of this ogre in the streets of Bern. 
One holds him out to be a feudal lord, another as 



SCHOOL. 



249 



an emblem of the church. A pastor tells me that 
the ogre who devours his offspring is the Revo- 
lution ; and a sharp young student from the 
neighbouring college whispers he is only Time, 
But neither man nor boy in Bern imagines that 
this ogre represents the School. A noble lady, 
sweet of face and firm of purpose, with her arms 
about the children's necks, would be to man and 
boy alike the type of School. 

The fairest edifice a Swiss can see when he 
goes out to walk is his village school, his city 
school, his Cantonal school, according as he hap- 
pens to reside in country or in town. A jail, a 
workhouse, nay, a town-hall, may nestle in some 
corner where a curious eye might miss it ; but 
school, a college, an academy, is sure to be 
in sight, the pride of every village slope and 
every city square. In Zurich and Lausanne, the 
intellectual capitals of Switzerland — Teutonic 
capital and Latin capital — the noblest buildings 
are the public schools. If we except the Federal 
Hall at Bern, the Polytechnic in Zurich is 
the finest edifice in this country ; fine alike in 
site, proportion, fitness, and display. ' Our 
children/ says to me a sage professor, 'are so 
much accustomed to regard the school-house as 



250 



THE SWITZERS. 



the foremost building in a city, that they fall 
into the drollest errors when they go abroad/ 
He tells me, as an illustration of such errors, that 
some years ago he took his daughter, then a child 
of ten, to France, and, being at Versailles, he 
heard her clap her hands, and cry with glee, 
( Look here, papa ; here is the school-house ! 
Look I' It was the garden front of that huge 
pile. 

It is the same, — or very near the same, — 
when you are out of town. You walk into 
some deep and sombre gorge, with jagged 
heights and foaming torrents, where the pines 
can hardly cling, a chalet here and there, high 
up, on what appears an inaccessible ledge of 
rock, and near you not a sound, except the 
crash of falling trees just breaking the oppres- 
sive monotone of rushing floods. 'No school in 
such a gorge/ you haply say, when, lo ! a square, 
white building rises in your front. In England 
such a thing would be a shooting-box, and 
here it is a village school. In less secluded nooks 
these buildings are on larger scale. Take that 
of Sarnen. Smiling on the bright, green water, 
stands the finest edifice in the Canton, and of 
course it is a public school. Wander round 



SCHOOL. 



251 



St. Gallen; that St. Gallen which was once a 
seat of Benedictine learning, and is now the 
seat of a new trade in lace. One side of the 
fine public park is occupied by the Cantonal 
school, — a noble edifice even in this land of noble 
schools. Even at Einsiedeln, the great basilica 
is fronted by a handsome Communal school. 

The larger number of these schools belong to 
the Communes ; for in every hamlet where there 
may be twenty boys and girls, the mayor and 
council must provide a school and hire a master. 
Next to the Communal schools in number stand 
the burgher schools, which are supported by the 
towns ; and after these the Cantonal schools, 
which are supported by the state. The Canton 
is the state. As yet there is but one Federal 
school in Switzerland, the Polytechnic in Zurich, 
which has now become for all the world a 
model school of practical life. A great desire 
is felt in Zurich, Bern, Geneva, and Lausanne, 
to found a Federal university of the highest 
class — to challenge Bonn and Heidelberg, if not 
Berlin. The Federal constitution gives the power 
to found it ; but, as yet the project has been 
chilled by local jealousies, the fruit of those 
diversities of race, of creed, of speech, which 



252 



THE SWITZERS. 



make us wonder that a Switzerland exists at 
all. But several of the Cantons have their 
universities on a smaller scale, and with their 
faculties more or less complete. Basel has ' a 
university. Bern has a university. Zurich, 
Neufchatel, Geneva, have their own universities. 
Vaud, Luzern, St. Gallen, and Ticino, each of 
these Cantons has a separate university. No 
people in the world can boast of so many seats 
of learning in proportion to their number as the 
Switzers can. 

The festivals and holidays of a Switzer are 
connected with his life at school. Each change is 
made the pretext for a feast. On going to school 
there is a feast ; on leaving school there is a feast ; 
at every stage of his advance there is a feast. 
There is vacation feast, assembling feast ; when 
a new teacher comes there is a feast, and when a 
teacher leaves there is a feast. The school is 
made to him by public and by private acts a 
centre of all happy thoughts and times. It 
shares the joys of home and the rewards of 
church. At school a Swiss boy finds his 
mates with whom he learns to sing and play, 
to drill and shoot. The teacher is to him a 
father. With this teacher he will grow into a 



SCHOOL. 



253 



man, assisted on his way with care and love, 
unmixed with either foolish fondness or paternal 
pride. With him, and with his mates, the lad 
will take his country strolls, collecting rocks and 
plants ; will push his boat across the lake, and 
dive into the secrets of the ancient water-folk ; 
will pass by train into some neighbouring Com- 
mune where the arts are other than he sees at 
home. All bright and pleasant things are grouped 
about him; and in after-time, when farm and 
counter occupy his cares, these class-room days 
will seem to him the merriest of his life. 

The school, the pupil, and the teacher, are for 
ever in the public eye. The scholars promenade 
the streets with music, flags, and songs. All men 
make room for them — salute them — glory in them, 
as the highest product of their state. 



254 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

DEMOCRACY AT SCHOOL. 



Attention to his school is not a fixed and formal 
business to a Switzer, as it might be to a Briton 
and a Frank, but an unceasing and engrossing 
duty from his cradle to his grave. The school is 
with a Switzer always — as a child and as a man. 
No sooner has he ceased to be a pupil, than he 
starts into a principal. The village schools are 
governed by the villagers, and as a member of 
his village, be he preacher, woodman, goat-herd, 
inn-keeper, he must take his share in managing 
these public schools. He has to build them, to 
conduct them, and to keep them up. He has to 
choose the teacher and director, and to pay a por- 
tion of their stipends from his private purse. In 
time he is a parent with his little ones to tend 
and train. Then opens up a new relation to his 
village schools. He is a visitor, on private even 



DEMOCRACY AT SCHOOL. 255 

more than public grounds. Each parent has a 
right to visit and inspect the school, to see the 
teacher, and consult the records of his child. 
Good teachers welcome these parental visits ; for 
a parley with the father helps a teacher with 
his child. The circle of his duty is complete, 
and so a Switzer never can forget his school, 
and what concerns his school. 

School politics are public politics. With 
the church and chapel make the popular poli- 
tics; but in a Switzer s mind, there is an earlier 
stage of thought than either church or chapel 
reaches, and that earlier stage is only to be got 
at in the school. 

In many Cantons there is some assertion in 
the fundamental law that the true end of public 
instruction is to combine democracy with religion, 
that every boy attending at a public school may 
grow up into a good citizen and a good Christian. 
In the law of Zurich it is said, ' The People's 
schools shall train the children of all classes, on 
a plan agreed upon, to be intelligent men, useful 
citizens, and moral and religious beings/ In the 
law of Luzern it is laid down that 1 The school 
affords to every boy and girl capable of educa- 
tion the means of developing their mental and 



256 



THE SWITZERS. 



physical faculties, of training them for life in 
the family, in the community, in the church, 
and in the state, of putting them in the way 
to gain their future bread/ In Vaud the law 
declares that ' Teaching in the public schools 
shall be in accordance with the principles of 
Christianity and democracy/ In the law of 
Thurgau it is stated that 6 The general aim of a 
primary school shall be to call out the power and 
talents of the children, so as to give them the 
knowledge and capacity of citizen-life, and to 
train them to be moral and religious men and 
women/ Almost every Canton puts a clear an- 
nouncement of this principle in front — the busi- 
ness of a public teacher is to make his boys good 
Republicans and good Christians. 

But the rule thus stated in the form of law 
is subject to revision year by year. The Jesuits 
and their party put religion first ; and if they 
had their way would make it first and last. 
The liberals bring democracy to the front ; and 
some among them, if they had their way, would 
make it all in all. With us, elections mostly turn 
on trade, alliances, and policy ; in Switzerland, 
they mostly turn on school affairs ; and hence the 
fundamental laws are in a stage of ebb and flow, 



DEMOCRACY AT SCHOOL. 



257 



as the conservative party and the democratic 
party gain the upper hand. 

In Zurich there was recently a question in 
debate which set the city in a blaze. A new 
girls' school was wanted ; every one allowed it, 
though a stranger might have fancied there were 
schools enough. The only question was, in which 
locality the citizens should build that school. 
Two parties came into the front — a clerical 
party and a liberal party ; those who put re- 
ligion first, and those who put democracy first. 
6 Let us build this school for females near the 
minster/ said the clerical party, 'for the female 
mind is more susceptible than the male ; and 
if we keep the women, we shall always have the 
men.' The radical party met them with a counter- 
cry : ' No more connexion of the church and 
school ; the clergy have no business in the 
class-room : let us build on neutral ground — be- 
yond the ancient walls, among the vineyards, in 
the sunshine.' Public policy was with the 
radicals. No ground was vacant near the min- 
ster save the public square, and open places are 
so rare in Zurich that a project for invading 
one of them with stone and mortar meets with 
public opposition like a project with ourselves 

S 



258 



THE SWITZEBS. 



for trenching on a public park. The war of 
words grew hot ; elections turned upon it ; till 
the clerical party got the sober people, known 
as peres de famille, on their side. These fathers 
said their girls should grow beneath the shadow 
of the minster ; it was better for them : it was 
more respectable ; it was their fate. And so 
the school was built on the ancient cloisters, 
round the graves of venerable monks. A slice 
of public ground was added from the public 
square. 

In Bern a new girls' school is wanted. The 
site must be a fine one; yea, the very best in 
Bern. But sites are difficult to find in this old 
city, where the narrow ridge of ground is occupied 
from gate to bridge with ancient houses. There 
are left the public gardens, called the Lesser 
Ramparts, where the bands perform, the citizens 
walk, the children play, and strangers watch the 
sun set on the Bernese alps. Can any part of 
this delicious garden be surrendered ? Yes ; for 
one great purpose, and that purpose only — for 
a school. The site is given ; but when the 
plans are drawn, it is discovered that some lime- 
trees of enormous size and matchless beauty — 



BEMOCKACY AT SCHOOL. 259 

trees which scent the air and cool the paths 
—must be destroyed. A second public pang — 
and they are gone. No pride and glory of the 
town must stand between \ Switzer and his 
school. 

In Lausanne you find the natives talking 
much, and wisely, of an inter-cantonal move- 
ment in support of what is held in certain 
towns to be ' the just influence ' of the French- 
speaking section of the League. That section is 
much weaker than the German-speaking section ; 
but in days gone by it held a share of power 
beyond the value of its numbers on account of 
its superior learning, energy, and dash. But now 
the tables have been turned, for German science 
has beaten French science, just as German arms 
have subdued French arms. Lausanne is not 
the literary capital ; that supremacy has gone to 
Zurich. Geneva is no longer the political centre ; 
that supremacy has gone to Bern. Fact and feax 
have roused the Gallic Cantons into crusade for 
the preservation of their rights. Professor Eugene 
Bambert, of Lausanne, first sounded the alarm. 
Professor Bambert lives in Zurich, where he holds 
the Chair of Literature. Aware of what is going 



260 



THE SWITZERS. 



on, he sees that ' La Suisse Romande ' is losing 
ground, 'La Suisse Germanique' gaining ground. 
He calls his countrymen to arms. A party meet 
in the Hotel de Ville, Lausanne — the men of 
Neufchatel, Geneva, Vaud, and Valais — when 
the state of things is carefully explained, and a 
proposal made to found a League of French- 
speaking Cantons to defend themselves against 
the ever-increasing German force. But how are 
they to hold their own? By artifice, corruption, 
violence ? Not a dream of such things clouds 
their minds. The meeting sees and says it is a 
question of the public schools. French education 
is below the mark — it ought to be improved ; 
and the Societe Intercantonale proposes to revise 
and widen the superior education in the three 
French-speaking cities of Lausanne, Geneva, 
and Neufchatel. But how ? By means, says 
Rambert, of a French University in Celtic 
Switzerland. Professor Rambert is a native of 
Lausanne, and he proposes to erect this Federal 
University in Lausanne. But here creeps in once 
more the sign of race. Instead of urging that 
the three French-speaking cities should subscribe 
the money and begin the work, these Celtic 



DEMOCRACY AT SCHOOL. 



261 



Switzers ask their common country — in the main 
Teutonic — to provide the means. The League, 
they say, is rich ; the Canton poor. The Com- 
munes are already taxed beyond their strength ; 
the Cantons cannot bear fresh burthens ; let a 
generous country pay ! 



262 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

GENEVA. 

A band j a line of flags ; much patter of small 
feet, with now and then a swell of fervid song ; 
some fifteen hundred girls in white ; a troop of 
magistrates and councillors, pastors, teachers, 
foreign consuls ; then a second band, with firemen 
in their casques, and landwehr in their uniforms ; 
some fifteen hundred boys in line of march ; soft 
babble of young voices, in the intervals of drums 
and trumpets. 

Scene — the English Garden at Geneva. Time 
— the afternoon of Tuesday, June the twenty- 
seventh. Group — the pupils of the primary 
schools. Occasion — the completion of the half- 
year's school-work. Prizes have been given to the 
deserving scholars. Lists of those most worthy 
of such honours have been read aloud. The ma- 
gistrates of the republic have addressed them all 
in cheery and exciting words. It is a great day 
in their lives. They are the heroes of one happy 



GENEVA. 



263 



hour ; and all their faces glow with inner fire. A 
word is given — the bugles sound — the lines begin 
to move ; and soon the English Garden is behind 
us. For the last three days the skies have opened 
all their gates ; this morning brought a pause in 
the great roar of rain ; and as the heads of co- 
lumns quit the ground a gleam of sunshine shoots 
to right and left, and soon the city and the lake 
are bathed in golden light. The Canton is agog 
with joy. All men make way for the procession. 
' Ha ! the merry ones ! Good children ! Soldiers 
of the Lord!' are some of many greetings, as the 
boys and girls troop forward, pass the quays, and 
winding by the Molard, up the Rue Corraterie, 
reach the Electoral Palace, where the magistrates 
receive them, and regale them. After honest 
fare and kindly speech, the children march to the 
theatre, where conjurors and showmen entertain 
them ; then to the Plainpalais, where all the city 
goes to meet them; and a happy day is ended 
with a wonderful discharge of fireworks, rockets, 
wheels, and detonating stars. 

Much glory to the boys and girls ; but glory 
earned by weeks of earnest work. 

Enter one of the primary schools, from which 
these children swarm into the streets. A goodly 



264 



THE SWITZERS. 



edifice — clean stairs and passages — silence like the 
hush of summer woods — a door that opens to a 
touch — a teacher glad to see you enter — children 
at their desks, and evidently used to strangers 
coming hi and going out — these things strike the 
senses first. You look around the class-room, 
which contains some fifty boys, from six or seven 
to nine or ten years old. These lads are all so 
clean and spruce, that you are tempted to ex- 
claim, 'Are these your city Arabs V In Geneva, 
lying close to Savoy, there are many poor, and 
some neglected people. Standing at the outlet of 
three Alpine valleys, she receives into her streets 
the overflow from Sallanche, from Annecy, from St. 
Claude ; and if her streets are not so littered with 
the waste of life as those of Lyons, there are 
some undoubted Arabs here and there about her 
cafes and along her quays. 

1 Our city Arabs/ says the teacher, c drop their 
nature when they come to school. Our laws are 
strict, and we enforce them with the utmost zeal. 
Our law declares that every child has a right to 
come to school ; and his exclusion from the school 
is felt to be a serious blow for him. We punish, 
therefore, by refusing him his seat. At six, a 
boy should come to us of right, and claim his 



GENEVA. 



265 



place ; but we retain by law a power to strip him 
of that right. We use this power in cases where 
the child is not in fault, but where the public 
good requires a sacrifice of private right — as where 
a child is either deaf, dumb, blind, or idiotic. 
Children who have not been vaccinated, children 
who are suffering from diseases, children who pre- 
sent disfigured and repulsive faces, are excluded. 
After they have got their seats, they may be sent 
away for bad behaviour in the school, and on the 
way to school. A child is made to feel that coming 
to the school is like the going to a palace and a 
church.' 

' But some of them must come in filth and rags V 
c Yes, some ; not many and not long. For 
dirt is but a habit of the eye, and habits of the 
eye are quickly changed. We wash the dirty 
ones, and send them home with shining skins. A 
mother gets ashamed on finding that some other 
woman has to wash her child. The child, too, 
gets ashamed ; for all the little lads about him 
are as clean as new-shelled peas. No boy has 
ever to be washed three times/ 

A strangers eye can see scant difference in 
the scholars as to class, since all are trim and 
tight, and look well fed. 



266 



THE SWITZERS. 



' Is there much mixture of the various social 
classes in your Primary Schools V 

' We have no social classes in our common- 
wealth.' 

' Of course not. Pardon me. But you have 
offices and professions, like the outer world. You 
have, for instance, Councillors of State. Are any 
of your boys the sons of Councillors of State V 

1 1 cannot say so. In some Cantons, such as 
Bern and Zurich, you will find the son of a pro- 
fessor sitting in a primary school with sons of 
weavers, goatherds, and mechanics. In Geneva 
it is not the mode. We Latins are democratic 
in our speeches, and Geneva is to us the centre 
of all liberal thought ; but not one member of 
the democratic party in Geneva will allow his 
boy to mix with common lads. You think he 
would deny this statement ? You are right, he 
would deny it ; yet he does not send his Jean and 
Henri to the primary school/ 

Inquiry proves this teacher to be right in 
what he says about the freer mixture of all 
classes in Teutonic Cantons. 

' Your pupils come from every grade ? ' I ask 
a Zurich teacher. 

' Yes,' he answers, ' every grade. This boy 



GENEVA. 



267 



is a professor's son. You know his father. He 

is B . The next to him — that clever-looking 

lad — is a cabman's son.' 

' Professor B has no objection to his 

boy being school-mate to the cabman's son?' 

' No, none. Why should he have ? In coun- 
tries where you have a privileged class such 
things may be. With us ability is the only 
rank, and men are thrown together in their later 
life according to the groups they form at school. 
If A. is equal to B. in learning, he is equal to 
him in everything that ought to count.' 

I take the actual census in one Zurich class. 
The boys are fifty -two in number, and their 
ages seven to eight. 

Sons of shopkeepers . . . .21 
„ merchants . . .10 

„ petty tradesmen ... 4 
„ innkeepers .... 4 
„ professors .... 2 

Son of a musician 
„ an apothecary . 
„ an architect 
„ a business agent 
„ a porter . 
„ a day labourer . 
„ a clothes- cleaner 

Unclassified 



52 



268 



THE SWITZERS. 



In talking on this subject to Professor B , 

I find the teacher right in substance even when he 

errs in form. Professor B does not exactly 

hold that learning gives the only title to respect ; 
he thinks that gentle manners and a manly spirit 
count for something ; but he sees that in a free 
commonwealth, where power depends on popularity, 
it is the best thing for a lad that he should grow 
up with his fellows. 'Mark me/ also adds Pro- 
fessor B , £ the education that my boy obtains 

in the public school is very good, and is provided 
for him at the public cost/ 

In the Teutonic Cantons, though the teaching 
is not better, there is less division of society in 
the schools. The Teutons talk much less about 
equality than the Latins ; but the Teutons practise, 
while the Latins only preach. A Councillor of 
State in such a Canton as Geneva is an aristo- 
crat in feeling, though a democrat in flag. He 
keeps a shop (say) on the Grand Quay : he owns 
a villa on the lake ; he has a room of books^ a 
cabinet of wines. He takes an interest in this 
question of primary instruction. Only yesterday 
he spoke for upwards of an hour in answer to 
Professor Vogt; his eyes aglow with light; his 
tones impressed with zeal ; his passion noble, 



GENEVA, 



269 



tender, liberal ; yet he sees no need to let his 
children mix with those of citizens A. and B., 
who vend their wares in smaller streets, and are 
not Councillors of State. His fellows in the 
Council send their boys to private schools, and 
he must send his also to a private school. 

'Do tradesmen send their children to you V 
' Yes ; the greater part. The school is good, 
and cheap. No private master can pretend to 
vie with us. What he can offer is exclusiveness 
— a dear and poor instruction, in a smaller house 
and a less airy place. A man has not yet come 
to be a true republican if he prefers a private 
to a public school. The higher class of tradesmen 
send their sons, and these good fellows are our 
Attic salt/ 

'Your walls and floors and desks are very 
clean. Your passages and staircase show no 
scratch and scrawl. No bits of paper dot the 
floors, no splash of ink defaces desk and form/ 

' Our discipline is one of self-respect and self- 
restraint. We teach our children how to think 
and act, no less than how to read and write. 
Instruction is but part of education. If our plans 
are right, it is in fact the lesser part. We pay 
as much attention to the things of life as to 



270 



THE SWITZERS. 



the things of learning. Thus we see to a boy's 
manners and appearance : how he looks, and how 
he walks, and how he speaks. We see that he 
has washed his hands, and that he keeps his 
papers clean. We teach him to regard a blot 
upon his page as worse than even a smudge upon 
his face. A book befouled with grime is wasted, 
and our simple habits will not suffer Avaste. 
Turn over any of these books — the books in 
daily use — no leaf is torn, no cover is defaced. 
The writing-desk, though ink is freely used, is 
free from speck and spot/ 

' Your boys seem gentle to the touch ; but 
you must have some rougher types of lad ? What 
means have you of keeping the unruly spirits in 
such order?' 

' We expel them. Such a case is rare ; in 
some schools hardly known. A threat suffices 
to subdue the proudest flesh. In truth, to be 
expelled from school is only one degree from 
ruin. Where can the expelled one go? Our 
laws about exchange of school are very strict. 
These laws permit a lad whose parent passes 
from one village to another to exchange his 
school, but recognise no other cause as giving 
him a natural right to change. Nor can such 



GENEVA. 



271 



change be made at all without a special leave, 
in writing, from the inspector of his district 
school. A special leave is hard to get. Thus 
change is rare, and when it comes the cause of 
it is known ; and so a lad who is expelled must 
go into a second school with evil name and 
fame. His course in that new place will not be 
smooth/ 

' Expulsion is with you a public act V 
' Entirely so — that is, expulsion in the last 
degree/ 

' You have degrees V 

' Yes, three degrees ; a first, a second, and a 
third degree. The first is a forbidding of the 
school ; it may be for a day, a week ; and when 
the lad returns his parents must come with him, 
and must promise he shall mend his ways. The 
second is removal for a longer term ; a month, a 
quarter, perhaps ; when he can only take his place 
again by an express authority from either the 
inspector of his district or his village mayor. 
The third expulsion is the last. It is a public 
act. The master and inspector must consent ; 
the Educational Department must concur. No 
boy can be expelled from school excepting by 
this public act/ 



272 



THE SWITZEKS. 



' Expulsion is your last resource ; but you 
have other means V 
e Yes ; many. ' 

' Of a moral kind ? Your laws, I think, pro- 
hibit every form of corporal punishment V 

' Our laws are clear upon that point. No 
bodily pain, no bodily shame, is suffered in our 
schools. A lad has rights. We cannot stint 
his food ; we cannot lock him up ; we cannot 
put him in a corner ; we cannot lay him on his 
back ; we cannot crown him with a dunce s cap ; 
we cannot make a guy of him, even though his 
parents should request us to employ such means/ 

e Your discipline is wholly moral V 

'Yes; our means are prizes — ■ smiles, good 
words, good notes ; all leading up to public acts 
of honour, when the more deserving pupils are 
the heroes of their time. Desire to win a prize 
has more effect than fear of punishment in keep- 
ing scholars out of mischief. Pranks take time, 
and boys who mean to win their prizes have no 
time to spare/ 

' But now and then some boy offends the 
rule?' 

' A word, a glance, a call of name, suffice in 
almost every case. We sometimes have to keep 



GENEVA. 



273 



a lad an hour in school, when all his fellows 
have gone home. We sometimes give an extra 
task to learn. We mark his card ; we let his 
parents know of his default. In some bad cases, 
we may keep him in a room apart. If all these 
methods fail — and they but seldom fail — we 
may expel him for a week, a month ; and in 
the last resort we turn him out of school for 
good and bad/ 

6 You never use the rod V 

( The law does not permit us/ 

c But you have a rod ; it seems much worn 
about the end V 

6 We point with it ; and beat the desk with 
it; and — yes — we sometimes touch a dull boy's 
fingers with it/ 

'Do you ever box -a lad's ears?' 

i Well, no ; I hardly think so. Not in anger, 
surely ; we may tickle him by a little slap, but 
not to hurt him ; just to wake him up. Our 
discipline is that of steady, daily work. Our 
youngsters have no idle hours. We have abolished 
mischief with the penalties for mischief. Look 
at our Scheme of Work, and tell me how a lad 
who has to face it can indulge in prank and play/ 



274 



CHAPTEB XXVIII. 

SCHEME OF WORK. 

These Genevese lads are seven years old and 
upwards. Most of them are eight or ten. 

A few have been at infant-schools. The 
state encourages such schools, and helps them by 
a public grant ; but Communes are not forced to 
found them, and in many Cantons infant-schools 
are hardly known. The few who may have been 
at infant-schools have learnt to count, to name 
their letters, both in type and writing, and to 
sing their baby songs. All that was play — the 
time has come for work. 

Each child must stay six years at school, and 
every year, if he does well, should see him mount 
his ladder step by step. For every year there is 
a new degree. 

First Degree. 
The infant stage is past, and in the outset 



SCHEME OF WORK. 275 

every lad is thought to know as much as would be 
taught him at an infant-school. The first degree 
is that of reading, writing, and accounting. He 
has to undergo a course of pictures on the wall, 
with object lessons on the different themes. He 
learns to read and spell a little, and he makes his 
first acquaintance with a book — a simple spelling- 
book. He now begins to write — to copy hooks, 
rings,, strokes, and bars; to study letters, in the 
capital form ; and afterwards to set down, from 
dictation of his master, letters, syllables, and easy 
words. In arithmetic he studies adding and sub- 
tracting only. He must copy numbers up to 
twenty. He must know the figures both by ear 
and eye, and practise writing them by sound and 
sight. He learns addition and subtraction up to 
twenty. In this early stage the singing is of 
simple sort, and not so much a lesson as a game. 

Second Degree. 

The lessons open with an exercise on moral 
life, on natural history, on the laws of health, and 
on historical events. These exercises are to be 
continued by the master, in all after years, up 
to the sixth degree. The reading is expected 



276 



THE SWITZERS. 



to be better, care being given to an exact pro- 
nunciation of the words. The writing goes from 
big to middle size, and when the figures grow more 
easy to the child, he is allowed to try the finer 
forms. In his arithmetic he makes a stride ; he 
numbers, adds, subtracts up to a thousand ; reck- 
ons by the mind, and makes acquaintance with his 
second book — a treatise on addition and subtrac- 
tion. As he marks his way, the master gives him 
some examples of multiplication as they stand 
connected with the rules of addition, now familiar 
to his eye. A new and most important study 
stands before him — French, his native speech. He 
has to learn some words each day by heart; to 
study, copy, and dictate these words. He hears 
of noun, verb, article, and adjective, and tries to 
master how these parts of speech are used. He 
gets some lessons on gender and number ; and con- 
tinues singing, as before. 



Third Degree. 

In the third degree (besides the exercises on 
moral life, on natural history, on laws of health, 
and on historical events) the lad is taught to read 
a current page, and then the master tells him what 



SCHEME OF WORK. 



277 



it means. Great care is paid to pronunciation ; and 
the teacher must explain the use of dashes, dots, and 
hyphens, on a page of print. The writing is con- 
tinued in all hands — the big, the medium, and the 
fine. Examples must be written out. The cypher- 
ing must include addition, subtraction, and multi- 
plication, up to any number, with study of the 
works on these three operations. Simple cases of 
division, as developed from subtraction, may be 
given, with problems and exercises of a simple 
kind. The French is more advanced ; the lad is 
told to use a vocabulary ; and up to this date — a 
boy's third year at school — it is supposed that he 
has never seen a book of words ! He is now to 
tackle time and person — in his grammar ; and his 
master is to tell him of indicative and imperative, 
gender and number, subject and object. He is 
taught the formation of plurals, and to know a 
personal pronoun when he sees it. He is intro- 
duced to feminine and masculine, and taught to 
see the kinship of an adjective and a verb. He 
has to face another subject, drawing, which he first 
encounters in the shape of lines and angles ; but 
he only has to face it for an hour a week, and with 
a rule and compass in his hand. His singing 
lessons still go on. 



278 



THE SWITZERS. 



Fourth Degree. 
Exercises on morals, natural history, and laws 
of health, as usua], current reading, with an ex- 
planation ; also dashes, dots, and hyphens as 
before. The reading lessons now include intona- 
tion ; study and recital of simple pieces ; with 
questions and replies. The writing is after 
model and dictation, with copies of invoices and 
bills. The cyphering includes multiplication and 
division up to any numbers. The French be- 
comes more complex : studies in the construction 
of co-ordinate propositions, auxiliary verbs, the 
commoner class of irregular verbs, the passive 
form, and explanations of the adverb, preposition, 
and conjunction. Learning of words by heart 
goes on. The drawing must advance some steps. 
No rule, no compass is allowed ; a printed model 
is hung up ; and all the pupils copy it as they 
can. When single lines and angles have been 
neatly done, a pupil is instructed to combine 
them into groups. Another subject has been 
introduced this year — geography; this subject 
for two hours a-week. Geography is taught on 
natural lines ; the teacher starts with Geneva, and 
explains from what is known by sight to what is 
only known by word. Land and water lead to 



SCHEME t)F WORK. 



279 



continent and ocean, and the general features 
of the earth's surface are exhibited in lake 
and alp. 

The singing has become more serious, and a 
goodly slice of time is now given up to exercise 
and drill. 

Fifth Degree. 

Exercise and current reading as before, but 
more of it. More singing, exercise, and drill than 
ever. 

• The reading lessons are continued, with explan- 
ations, questions, and replies. Much time is 
given to intonation, also to reading poetry and 
selected bits of prose aloud. The writing lessons 
take the form of copying models, and writing under 
dictation. In his fifth year the pupil commences 
round hand, of the sort which English boys learn 
first and then forget. The cyphering begins with 
practice in the four rules, separately and con- 
jointly, then proceeds to decimal fractions and the 
four operations in decimals. Practice continues ; 
mental arithmetic continues ; and the pupils dash 
at vulgar fractions. French progresses into the 
abstruser parts of grammar ; and the lessons are 
on the different sorts of determinatives, the chief 



280 



THE SWITZEKS. 



exceptions to the formation of plural and feminine, 
the classification of pronouns, the conjugation of 
verbs, the preposition and the adverb. Exercises 
in analysis are given. The drawing now includes 
the outlines of seas and continents, together with 
such figures as consist of straight lines and curves 
only. Outline maps are made. The geography 
takes in the world; the lessons being three — a 
general view of the five parts of the globe, a 
special view of Europe, and a fuller view of Switz- 
erland in her physical aspects. Two fresh sub- 
jects have been introduced this year — geometry 
and history. In the class of geometry the pupil 
studies lines, angles, figures, with the measure- 
ment of plain surfaces. The history is local, fol- 
lowing the plan pursued in the class of geography, 
and sets before the boy a picture of his country 
from the earliest to the latest times. 

Sixth Degree. 

Not to speak of exercises in morals, natural 
history, the laws of health, and historical events ; 
not to speak of current readings, with an ex- 
planation of the use of hyphen, dot, and dash ; 
the subjects in the sixth degree are eight in num- 
ber, without counting music, exercise, and drill. 



SCHEME OF WORK. 



281 



These eight subjects are severely taught ; the lads 
being twelve years old. 

The reading now consists of exercises in into- 
nation and declamation ; summaries by voice and 
writing ; special treatises on history, health, natural 
history, agriculture (for the country folk), and 
science as applied to industry for all ; and recita- 
tions of poetry and selected bits of prose. 

The writing now embraces cursive hand under 
dictation, models of round hand, copies of public 
acts, of bills, of letters on business, with specimens 
in all the styles, big, middling, cursive, round. 
The arithmetic comprises sums in vulgar fractions, 
in mixed numbers, some ideas of aliquot parts, 
the metrical system, the rule of three and applica- 
tion of this rule to interests, discounts, dividends. 
The French embraces lessons on invariable words, 
the principal exceptions to the rules of concord, 
the participles, the collective nouns, the main 
difficulties of French syntax. These are followed 
by a string of exercises ; exercises on the mo- 
dification which changes in the verb cause the 
prepositions ; on the general principles of com- 
position, on the rules of epistolary correspondence ; 
on common synonymes ; on bad grammar and on 
slang. The drawing passes from even lines and 



282 



THE SWITZERS. 



curves into the representation of common ob- 
jects, houses, men, and boats, and the master 
gives instruction in perspective, and in light and 
shade. Objects are copied and models made. 
The class of geometry employs itself upon the 
means of measuring surfaces and bodies, with 
the art and practice of surveying land. Three 
hours a-week are given to geography ; including, 
first, a detailed study of Switzerland and the ad- 
jacent parts of Savoy, Burgundy, and Franche 
Comte ; second, lessons on the form and motion of 
the earth ; third, a general view of the starry 
heavens. The history consists of courses on 
national events from 1513 (the first year of the 
Republic) to 1848 (when the existing system of 
Confederate Cantons took its form), the constitu- 
tion of Geneva, and the Federal pact 

An extra subject — that of agriculture — is 
taught in the country schools. A master parts 
his sixth year into agricultural sessions ; in the 
first of which he gives instruction on the nature 
of soils, the different kinds of soil, the art of mix- 
ing and manuring soil, together with the use and 
economy of labour ; in the second, he discourses 
on agricultural implements, on seeds and dried 
plants, on various cereals, vines, straw, forage, 



SCHEME OF WORK. 



283 



and the like, with hints on noxious plants and 
animals, on insects, and the general business of 
a husbandman. 

To this large list of subjects must be added 
singing and gymnastics, branches of primary 
education which are given in two divisions, and 
in unison with each other. Both are taught 
with care, and both with reference to a due 
development of the physical and the moral 
powers. 

These pupils in Geneva toil more hours 
a-year than any one would like to set our 
boys to toil. A school week in Geneva numbers 
thirty hours; a year from forty- four to forty- 
six weeks. These hoars and weeks are those 
in which the pupil must attend at school ; but 
they are only half the time he is expected to 
be hard at work. This rule is matter of the 
strictest law. ' All scholars in the primary schools 
have daily tasks to do at home ; the length 
and value of which tasks are in proportion to 
their age/ In rural districts some discretion 
is allowed the teacher in this matter. Lads of 
seven or eight may be exempted from these 
tasks ; but no such weakness is displayed in 
towns. The task at home is nearly equal to 



284 THE SWITZERS. 

the task at school. Inquiry at Geneva and 
Lausanne has shown me that the hours of study 
- — school- work, drill, and home-work — are not 
less than ten, and often rise as high as twelve 
or thirteen hours a-day. In fine, these Switzers 
tug at learning as we English tug at trade. 



285 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 

A lad who passes through his six degrees, and 
through his extra subjects, in a primary school, 
with fair success, is not unfit to enter on his 
course of active life in any of the lower grades. 
He may aspire to drive a coach, to row a boat, 
to fell a wood, to guide a plough. His age is 
only twelve ; the world is all before him ; and 
more paths than one entice his feet. If he would 
keep what he has got, and clutch at more, an 
evening school is open either in his village or a 
neighbouring village, where, his daily toil being 
ended, he may follow science to her secret haunts. 
In evening schools the course of study runs 
to three full years; the masters are the best 
that can be hired ; the mayor and councillors 
take an interest in them ; and a lad who keeps 
his terms, and finishes his course, will then have 
had the benefit of being under good instruction 



286 



THE SWITZERS. 



for at least nine years. He ought to know his 
subjects well. 

If he should aim at higher things,, and if his 
parents can afford to spare him in the early 
hours, he goes into a secondary school. A 
country lad, he finds his secondary school 
in either his native village or a neighbouring 
village, always at an easy walk from home. A 
city lad, he finds his secondary school in the 
shape of either a college or a special school; 
but always in a neighbouring street. The means 
are at his door ; and if he fails to use them, it is 
not the public fault. 

All public schools for secondary teaching in 
the Canton of Geneva may be grouped under 
two heads : the rural schools, the city schools ; 
each group of institutions framed to meet the 
wants of those who come to them. The country 
schools are mostly union schools. One Commune 
only — that of Satigny — has a secondary school 
for itself. In one case, two Communes — Meyrin 
and Vernier — have a school between them. 
Generally four Communes join in keeping up a 
secondary school. The forty-two Communes in 
the Canton of Geneva have twelve of these rural 
schools among them. 



SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 



287 



A lad begins his second education at the 
point where he broke off his first. In entering 
on his thirteenth year, he finds in front of him 
three years of toil. A part of these arrange- 
ments stands the same for boys and girls : to 
wit, the principles of moral science; French, 
with composition and the elements of style ; 
elocution ; the more important facts in modern 
history, with reference to the history of Geneva ; 
common geography, with the use of globes ; 
meteorology; the elements of physic, natural 
history, and chemistry ; the laws of health ; the 
art of writing ; singing. Here lines divide, and 
the instruction is adapted to the sex. A sepa- 
rate course is given to boys, on civic duties, on 
geometry applied to measurements, on agricul- 
tural science, on the books for a farm ; and exer- 
cises are provided in drawing common objects, 
in gymnastics, and in German — if the regent 
is able to teach this language. Girls are taught 
in special classes, how to cast accounts, to tend 
plants and flowers, to use the needle, and to 
keep the house. The girls are also taught the 
art of treating sick and wounded men. 

One* school suffices for both girls and boys ; 
the boys attending only in the morning, while 



288 



THE SWITZERS. 



the girls come only in the afternoon. This suits 
the parents, who could hardly spare their children 
all at once from work ; and makes one school- 
house serve for both the sexes. A regent has the 
general charge. A quarter of the regent's salary 
is paid by the united Communes, three-quarters 
by the Canton. In return these secondary schools 
are founded when and where the Council of State 
sees fit. 

The elements of drill begin the very first 
week of a scholar's course. A teacher sets his 
pupils in a row ; he makes them stand erect ; 
he moves their limbs together; bids them bend, 
recover, stretch the hands, march, leap, and 
jump. All kinds of games are practised in the 
play-ground. Every game that tends to open 
and expand the chest, to nerve the limbs, and 
give a carriage to the frame, is studied, and, if 
need be, introduced. From six to eight a lad 
is exercised in simple motions of the body ; at 
the age of nine he learns to hold a pole, to run 
with ropes, and swing on bars. From ten to 
thirteen harder things — made easy by the pre- 
vious training — are commenced. The lines are 
formed like regular squads ; the exercise is but 
another name for drill. In walking, running, 



SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 



289 



topping, every one obeys the word ; whirls, 
changes front, and halts as he is told. All exer- 
cise is orderly and rhythmical. Much care is 
taken with the halting, turning round, and facing 
to the right or left. The squads are put through 
many exercises in bending, twisting, reaching, 
and recovering at the ease. Long jumps and 
high jumps, every sort of sport on foot, with 
hanging by the hands and feet from rungs, with 
climbing poles and ropes, with bounding from a 
spring-board, and a hundred games that strengthen, 
temper, and adjust the frame. 

On leaving one of these rural schools at fifteen 
years of age, a lad is fit for any post that he is 
likely to obtain ; is fit to be a waiter, farmer, 
boatman, forester, and so on ; and is also fit to 
exercise his public rights — to hold his rifle and 
to cast his vote. For such a lad can read and 
write, can sing and shoot ; he knows the con- 
stitution of his country, and can follow with a 
free intelligence the politics of his city and his 
State. Of course he is no scholar, for he knows 
no Greek and Latin, and his range of language, 
poetry, mythology, and humanities, is not wide. 
He has no chance of entering the professions. 
He cannot hope to be an advocate, physician, 

u 



290 



THE SWITZERS. 



clergyman, professor. If he means to try a higher 
flight, he must repair to one of the burgher 
schools. 

The burgher schools in the Canton of Geneva 
— which may be taken as examples of their 
fellows are : (1) the College of Geneva ; (2) the 
College of Carouge ; (3) the Industrial and 
Commercial School ; (4) the Supplementary 
School ; (5) the Superior Ladies' School. 

Pupils, whether boys or girls, are subject to 
prehminary examination, in the presence of cer- 
tain persons named by the Department of Public 
Instruction. These examinations are very strict, 
alike for scholars who have passed through public 
schools and private schools. Some general rules 
apply to each and all. No class can be increased 
beyond sixty pupils ; the year comprises forty 
weeks at least ; the hours of study in each week 
are fixed at thirty in summer time, at thirty- 
two in winter time ; examination in the several 
branches must be holden once a-year at least ; 
and a festival of promotion is given at the con- 
clusion of the summer term. 

The most renowned of these superior schools 
is the College of Geneva. If our aspirant is a 
city lad, ambition will induce him to prefer that 



SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 



291 



school. It is divided into two main sections — a 
classical section, a commercial section ; and the 
boy will enter one or other, as his aim in life 
suggests. He studies to some end, and takes 
his course according to that end. 

The course of classical education runs seven 
years — from the age of fifteen to twenty -two. 
The course includes — the principles of morality ; 
French, with composition and the elements of 
style ; the art of making verses ; diction ; Lathi, 
Greek, mythology (clubbed together as one sub- 
ject) ; the German language ; the salient points 
of general history and national history ; the rights 
and duties of a citizen ; ancient and modern geo- 
graphy ; arithmetic ; caligraphy ; singing ; and 
gymnastics. All these subjects must be taught ; 
but extra subjects may be introduced, if they 
are not allowed to interfere with what the law 
lays down as fixed and regular work. An English 
eye sees much to note as odd in such a list of 
subjects. How can composition be regarded as 
a separate study from versification, and, still 
more, from diction ? How can Latin, Greek, 
and Mythology, be treated in a single class ? No 
English master dreams of giving lessons on the 
rights and duties of a citizen. What public school 



292 



THE SWITZEIIS. 



in England teaches writing as an art ? Yet most 
of these things seem so natural to a Switzer, 
that he starts when you remark upon them. All 
French teachers pay attention to their native 
tongue, and dwell, with an adoring fondness, on 
its beauty, force, and point. We give our youth 
to Latin, and a Latin gives his youth to French. 
The rights and duties of a citizen are themes of 
daily interest to a Switzer, who must take his 
part in every movement of the state. A country 
squire in England likes his son to know a 
little law, for he may have to judge offenders 
from the local bench. All Switzers may have 
magisterial duties to discharge — as village mayor, 
as justice of the peace, as councillor of state ; 
and thus the rights and duties of a citizen are 
taught in all the secondary and superior schools. 
That caligraphy should be studied as a separate 
branch, by youths of twenty-two, may seem 
absurd ; but the result is good ; and nearly all 
these Switzers write in hands which men who 
run may read. One knows some English hands — 
and those of men the best worth reading — which 
no mortal patience can make out. A young man 
who has kept his seven years in the classical 
section of this college should be fit for most 



SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 



293 



things in his Canton — short of a professors 
chair. 

The commercial section differs from the classical 
section in the length and course of study. Six 
instead of seven years complete the series, and 
the Greek and Latin tongues give place to 
English. Every care is given to practical train- 
ing for office. The course of study runs — morals ; 
French, with composition, elements of style, and 
literary history ; diction ; the German tongue ; 
the English tongue for the superior classes ; salient 
points of general history and national history ; 
the rights and duties of a citizen; mythology; 
geography, and cosmography ; the history of 
discoveries ; a brief history of the arts ; elements 
of political economy ; arithmetic ; book-keeping ; 
elementary algebra, with logarithms ; elementary 
geometry and trigonometry, with application to 
topography ; the elements of physics and me- 
chanics ; studies in natural history and chemistry ; 
drawing, with descriptive geometry ; caligraphy ; 
singing ; gymnastics. 

At the end of these two courses — at the age 
of twenty -two and twenty-one respectively — the 
pupils who have passed a satisfactory examination 
receive certificates of capacity, and may then 



294 



THE SWITZERS. 



proceed to any university and so prepare them- 
selves for the bar, the pulpit, the professor s chair. 

The College of Carouge — intended mainly for 
the Catholic population, who are less instructed, 
as a rule, than the Calvinistic population — has a 
course of three years only ; corresponding to the 
first three years in the College of Geneva. 
Carouge is separated from Geneva by a mile 
of neutral territory, called the Plain ; but what a 
difference in the people and the schools ! Carouge 
is Savoyard, not Swiss. Adjoined to the republic 
of Geneva, in 1814, for political reasons by the 
Powers, this town has none of the traditions of 
Geneva, and her people rank among the least 
enlightened members of the League. Laws which 
suit the Free City do not suit this Catholic 
suburb. Every rule must be relaxed. The term 
from six or seven years to three is lowered. 
The hours demanded in the week are fewer. 
They may be only twenty-six ; and they are 
mostly twenty-six. A lad who passes through 
this college of Carouge is not prepared to enter 
on a higher course of study, and he cannot hope 
to win professional rank. 

Here lies the secret of that high predominance 
which the Calvinistic population of the city 



SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 



295 



exercises over the Catholic population of the 
country, even in the face of a majority of 
Catholic votes. If ruling force in a republic lay 
in numbers only, and the march of public law- 
was governed by the polling-booth, this Canton 
of Geneva should be ultramontane, like the 
Catholic bishop, Gaspard Mermillod, who rules, 
as Cure of Geneva, an unruly flock of sheep. The 
latest census gives the several confessions in the 
Canton thus : 

Catholics .... 48,340 souls. 
Evangelicals . . .44,138 „ 

Jews 1,001 „ 

Other Sects ... 637 „ 

Mermillod, therefore, has a clear and strong 
majority of the Canton at his back. The suffrage 
is universal ; and a clear majority in the polling- 
booths should give him a majority in the Hotel 
de Ville. But he has no such power ; the 
better taught minority carries everything before 
it in the public council and the public press. 



29G 



CHAPTER XXX. 

SCHOOL AND CAMP. 

Directoe Max Wirtli of Bern assures me that 
no boy, no girl, exists in this Confederation — 
save an idiot here and there — who cannot read 
and write. So far as one can judge, Herr Wirth 
is right, as to the outer side of things. All 
Switzers seem to be — and to have been — at 
school. There must be some exceptions to this 
happy rule ; exceptions in remote and barren 
wilds, where nature gives her offspring an embrace 
like that of wolves and bears. In cities there 
are no illiterate classes like the savages of Lon- 
don, Paris, and New York ; but in such chasms 
as break the snowy alps of Schwyz and ITri, 
where the pine and larch can hardly grasp the 
rocks, there may be found some unkempt, un- 
taught boors. Not many, perhaps — but some ; 
enough to show that men are men, and that 
the sternest rules may fail where nature works 



SCHOOL AND CAMP. 



297 



against them. More than once, in crossing by 
the passes of Graubiinden, through the Fore 
Rhine country, I have come on village schools 
shut up ; and on inquiring at the nearest house 
of call, have learned that that they are closed 
for more than six months out of twelve. In 
summer time a lad is on the mountains tending 
goats ; in winter time his house is buried under 
snow. The school is three miles from his door ; 
how can he be expected to attend it every day ? 
The law may tell him he must go to school. 
The law sounds well enough in Chur ; but who 
shall fetch him from the Alpine tops, and 
who unearth him from the falling snow ? In 
these secluded mountain troughs the life is 
hard, the priest is easy, and the village mayor 
is kind. A peasant mayor can feel for peasant 
woes ; and though he reads the law, and talks 
of putting it in force from day to day, the 
months slip by, and Johann is not seen at school. 
But these exceptions hardly tell against the 
mass. In looking broadly for results, these 
Alpine savages may well be dropped. 'We reckon 
all such waifs and strays as idiots/ Wirth 
remarks. They need not mar the picture, though 
they shade it with a little cloud. 



298 



THE SWITZERS. 



In general terms, all Switzers, male and female, 
may be said to read and write, to keep accounts, 
to sing, to shoot, and take a personal and intelli- 
gent part in what concerns the public weal. 

How much unlike the state of things in 
England, who shall need to say ? At home, we 
English stand outside the lists ; and even in the 
United States our kinsmen show to disadvantage. 
Take the census of 1860 in the United States. 
The figures will astound some persons who have 
long been saying that if education is neglected 
on the parent soil, it flourishes abundantly 
among our sons. How stands the record ? In 
America the number of illiterate men and women, 
white of skin, and over twenty-one years old, 
is upwards of a million. The number of illite- 
rate persons is increasing, not diminishing. In 
1840 the white-skins over twenty-one who could 
not read and write were 549,850 ; in 1850 these 
illiterates had increased to 962,898 ; in 1860 
they had swelled to 1,126,575. If you were to 
throw in other classes — red-skins, black-skins, 
yellow-skins — you would increase this number 
very much. The yellow-skins and red-skins were 
not counted in this census, but the black-skins 
were ; and from this colour only the Department 



SCHOOL AND CAMP. 



299 



of Education add 1,750,536 adults to the mass 
of ignorant whites. In all, the States report 
that they are burthened with a population of 
2,872,111 whites and blacks who neither read 
nor write. 

Thus the number of ignorant adults in America 
— of men who read no books, no laws, no con- 
stitutions, no reports, yet exercise political power 
— is greater than the whole population of Swit- 
zerland. It may be fancied that these ignorant 
whites are strangers ; this is partly true, though 
not to any large extent. The mass of those 
who neither read nor write are natives of the soil. 
We cite these figures from the census : — 

Illiterate white adults, 1860 : 

Native-born .... 871,418 
Foreign-born .... 346,893 

But some may dream that this neglect of 
education in America is partial only ; in the 
ignorant South, in the chaotic West. The tables 
yield no facts that would support this view. 
What strikes one most in going through these 
tables is the uniformity of ignorance in the leading 
States. Virginia — home of Chivalry — is the most 
ignorant State of all ; but North Carolina and 
Tennessee are not far behind. Read this tale of 



300 



THE SWITZERS. 



grown-up white men and women who (in I860) 
could neither read nor write : — 



In the State 

}} 
)> 

5 J 



of Virginia 

North Carolina 
Tennessee . 
Kentucky . 
Indiana 
Ohio . 
Illinois 
Pennsylvania 
JSTew York . 



. 72,000 souls, 

. 68,000 „ 

. 67,000 „ 

. 63,000 „ 

. 54,000 „ 

. 41,000 „ 

. 38,000 „ 

. 36,000 „ 

. 20,000 „ 



Horace Mann asserts that these returns are 
far below the facts. He takes some pains to show 
that many persons are returned as able to read 
and write who are not able ; and he adds no less 
than forty in the hundred to these numbers, in 
correction of that false return. He nearly doubles 
the enormous totals of these ignorant whites. 

Select one State for more exact comparison 
with Switzerland. Take Pennsylvania as a spe- 
cial State, in which the care of education has 
been constant, from the day when Sydney aided 
Penn to frame a true Republican constitution. The 
population of Pennsylvania is a little over that of 
Switzerland. The State has 13,936 schools, with 
815,763 pupils attending them, yet the number of 
men and women, white of skin, and over twenty- 



SCHOOL AND CAMP. 



301 



one years old, who cannot read and write, stands 
in the latest census at 36,000 ! The school law 
of Pennsylvania dates from 1848, about the time 
when Switzerland began her educational reform. 
But many of the townships would not execute 
the law. A sect who call themselves Economists 
oppose the State department, and in 1860, when 
the tables were compared, these ignorant brethren 
still controlled results. In Switzerland the town- 
ships have no power to question and postpone the 
law. These facts and figures on America are taken 
from a report of the Commissioner of Education, 
dated Washington, Oct. 27, 1870, and that Com- 
missioner, Mr. Eaton, has the duty of correcting 
them if they are wrong. My end in citing them 
is to suggest, on both sides of the Ocean, what 
a task is still before us, ere we English get in 
line with these keen dwellers on the alps. 

The cost at which these great results are pur- 
chased by the Switzers, is, for them, immense ; but 
education is their chief affair ; the cost of educa- 
tion stands in nearly all the Cantonal budgets even 
before the army, though that army is the national 
force. The totals for these services in 1870 : — 

Cost of Cantonal troops . . . 4,508,901 frs. 
„ „ schools . . . 5,157,756 



302 



THE SWITZERS. 



Such figures are so startling, in comparison with 
budgets like our own, that one is tempted to 
extract these details from the tables kept in 
Bern : — 

Cost of Cantonal Schools and Armies. 



CANTON. 

1. Zurich . 

2. Bern . 

3. Luzern . 

4. TTri 

5. Schwyz . 

6. Unterwalden 

7. Grlarus . 

8. Zug 

9. Freiburg 

10. Solothurn 

11. Basel . 

12. Schaffhausen 

13. Appenzell 

14. St. Gmllen 

15. Grraub linden 

16. Aargau . 
IT. Thurgau 

18. Ticino . 

19. Yaud . 

20. Yalais . 

21. Neufchatel 

22. Geneva . 

Totals 
These fisrures show 



SCHOOL. 

881,804 frs. 
1,076,558 
201,168 

12,106 

14,266 

11,594 

14,789 

12,652 
160,683 
101,630 
455,790 
109,284 

51,315 
167,586 
104,127 
500,668 
131,048 
122,076 
398,597 

37,503 
177,097 
335,445 

5,157,756 
the cost for 



4,508,901 
schools and 

troops f:o far as the expense is charged upon 



AE3IY. 

516,449 frs. 

858,839 

212,485 

20,947 

34,886 

23,225 

52,337 

18,805 
168,497 
145,008 
164,450 

77,084 

80,531 
326,593 
153.017 
334,290 
117,575 
111,093 
562,170 
146,910 
150,874 
227,840 



SCHOOL AND CAMP. 



303 



the Cantonal budgets, and are safe for contrast 

just so far as they extend. Three other items 

lie outside : — (1) The amount contributed by each 

Commune in support of its own primary schools ; 

(2) the amount contributed by the League in 

support of the Polytechnic ; (3) the amount 

contributed by the League in support of the 

Federal army. When the first and second of 

these items have been added to the cost of schools, 

the bill stands thus : — ■ 

Cost of Communal schools . . . 5,000,000 frs. 
,, Cantonal schools . . . 5,157,756 
„ Federal school (Polytechnic) . 287,611 

10,445,367 

I give the round figure of five million francs 

as the cost of Communal schools on the authority 

of Herr Wirth. It is the lowest sum that can 

be named. When the third item is added to the 

cost of war, the bill stands thus : — 

Cost of Cantonal troops . . . 4,508,901 frs. 
„ Federal troops . . . 5,486,396 

9,995,297 

Thus we have it proved, and in official papers, 
that in Switzerland more money is expended on 
the public schools than on the public forces. 
Such a fact is sought in vain elsewhere. In 



304 



THE SWITZERS. 



London, Paris, and Berlin, war budgets come in 

great excess of education budgets ; eight, ten, 

twelve to one, it may be. Look at these 

totals, put into English money: — 

Cost of Swiss schools . . . £417,814 
„ Swiss army . . . 399,811 

Yet in Switzerland every man is drilled and 
armed, and ready to turn out and fight. Here 
lies the secret of a cheap defence. 

The truth is that a soldier learns his busi- 
ness in the school ; not only exercise and drill, 
the use of arms, the habits of obedience, . order, 
silence, cleanliness, the power to listen and to 
speak ; but those yet higher duties of a camp, the 
will to mingle class with class, to act in bodies 
with a single soul, to put down personal hopes 
and fears, and seek no object but the public good. 
'We have to guard the refuge/ says a Federal 
colonel, — as we quit the military school at Thun, 
where we have seen the Cantonal officers at 
their tasks — ' our forces are but slight; our only 
strength, is that derived from mutual help. Your 
rivalries and struggles would not suit us ; for 
our schools are but the opening to a camp where 
every man must take his place and find his 
brethren in the rank and file. You see we are 



SCHOOL AND CAMP. 



305 



a handful in the midst of powerful nations. 
How could we maintain our own unless we put 
forth all our forces ? How are we to get from 
each and all the utmost measure of his strength V 

' The answer to that question is the secret 
of your public life/ 

' My answer is, — we get it through the class- 
room and the drill-ground. In the school we melt 
our crude metallic ores ; and in the camp we fuse 
them into bronze/ 



X 



306 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

DEFENCE. 

No armed men are seen about the streets. From 
Basel to Bellinzona, from Carouge to Rorschach, 
you may drive through every Canton of the 
League, and hardly meet one soldier on the road. 
It is not so around you ; for in every frontier 
city you encounter men with belt and rifle — 
bright and brisk in one place, low and loafing in 
another — but in every frontier town you find 
imperial, royal, and republican bands. Bregenz 
is full of Austrian troops ; Constanz is full of 
German troops ; Como is full of Italian troops ; 
Belfort is full of French troops. Out, on every 
side of her, the nations are in arms ; in open and 
professional array of force ; and ready, as they 
seem, to take the field. She looks defenceless in 
the centre of this ring of camps. The only folk 
you see in these free Cantons clothed in uniforms 
are students coming from the public schools. 



DEFENCE. 



307 



And yet this League of free republics is not 
unprepared for war. 

You find no soldiers in the streets, because 
these Cantons have no separate military class ; 
but every man you see in shop and field would 
start into a soldier if his bugle called ; a soldier, 
armed, equipped, and ready for the march. The 
groom who feeds your horse may be a corporal ; 
the doctor who prepares your draught may be a 
captain of the line. No power is wasted by these 
Cantons. Every man is trained to face his duties, 
when the trumpet sounds. 

Come with me to a Cantonal drill-ground; 
that of Zurich, for example. In a broad, green 
meadow, called the Wollis Hofen, lying at the 
foot of Uetliberg, the boys of Zurich drill and 
shoot on summer days. This meadow is an 
ancient river-bed, now soft and grassy, with 
a ridge of ground about it, shutting off the 
lake ; four miles in distance from the Poly- 
technic and the Cantonal schools. Hither march 
the boys on certain days with pipe and drum, 
with glittering steel and mounted guns ; the 
linesmen carrying rifles, the artillery wearing 
swords. Some companies of Cantonal troops are 
in advance ; going out to practise at the range. 



308 



THE SWITZERS. 



A group of teachers and professors — men whose 
names are known to Europe — Kinkel, Vogelin, 
and Behn-Eschenburg — are with the boys, and 
will be followed, later in the day, by groups 
of parents, sisters, and it may be sweet-hearts ; 
ready with their cheering cries and waving 
hands, to mark each movement in the field. 
Arrived at Wollis Hofen, the procession halts, 
a line is formed, the names are called, the 
arms and uniforms are noted, and the several 
companies told off to drill and shoot. 

A little drill suffices for the younger fry ; 
who march, and wheel, and skirmish, and are 
then dismissed for play. But play itself is part 
of drill. These youngsters race and leap, and 
throw the ball, and try to catch their comrades 
in a coil of rope. Two swords are stuck into 
the ground as barriers, and the urchins chase 
each other round these shining points. 

More work is given to boys of riper age ; 
the full battalion drill, and firing, company by 
company, at a range of butts. A volunteer 
myself, I note with care the doings of these 
lads, and find in them a good deal to approve ; 
though much of it is better for the field than 
for parade. The wheeling is a little loose ; the 



DEFENCE. 



309 



line is sometimes bent ; and here and there a 
lad falls out of step. But these are faults of 
that loose system which the Ziirichers have 
borrowed from the French. The skirmishing is 
quick and steady ; the recovery into line alert. 
Still better is the firing at a mark. I should 
not like to be a Zouave clambering up a rock 
with one of these young marksmen of fifteen 
behind the ledge. 

A park of guns is on the ground. The Can- 
tonal school-boys form the line ; the Polytech- 
nic students serve the guns. Except that many 
of the lads wear glasses, they have very much the 
look of youths who will be soldiers by-and-by. 
A canteen is erected on the meadow, but no sign 
of drink being close at hand is seen. A thin, red 
wine is sold to such as want it ; but the boys 
prefer their grapes and apples — fruit of which 
they seem to have abundant crops. One corner 
of the meadow is enlivened by a band, round 
which the ladies and professors sit ; and at the 
butts a rifle-match is on between two Cantonal 
shooting clubs. The boys observe this shooting 
with intense delight ; a cry of rapture greets 
each score ; and men of every age — from eight 
to eighty, and of every rank — from labourers to 



310 



THE SW1TZERS. 



professors • — stand together on this Zurich drill- 
ground, foot to foot, and wrist to wrist, as one 
may say, in the freemasonry of arms. 

Some cheap and homely prizes — canes, and 
drinking-mugs, and albums — are distributed by 
a city magistrate to such as have done well 
The band strikes up the 6 Rhine Watch/ and 
the youngsters shout hurrah, and toss their 
caps into the sky. A great professor speaks a 
few warm words, and then the business of the 
day is done. A bugle calls, the companies fall 
in, and homeward march begins. Half Zurich 
comes to greet us on the quays and in the streets, 
and having spent ten hours in the open fields, we 
all feel ready for a frugal supper and a dreamless 
sleep. 

In every Canton of the League you find such 
schools of arms as that of Wollis Hofen ; drill 
and shooting grounds belonging to the State, 
and reckoned as the necessary adjuncts of a 
public school. For with a Switzer drill begins 
t as soon as he can stand erect and poise a stick. 
In many Cantons drill begins at six ; in others 
it begins at seven ; of course, in very simple sort, 
as moving at a word, as beating time, as carrying 
a satchel on the back. At ten the work becomes 



DEFENCE. 



311 



more serious ; there is wheeling, skirmishing, 
recovering, forming squares, deploying into line, 
and marching both in columns and in files. As 
they grow up, the pupils drill with arms ; and 
in the fulness of their teens they practise firing 
at a mark. A field-day in the drill-ground is 
regarded by the scholars as a play-day. Every 
one is eager for a prize. The thing itself is no- 
thing, for the glory is enough. Some magistrate 
of the republic gives away the prize ; the Can- 
tonal journal registers the fact ; a hundred friends 
and neighbours praise the happy shot. To be a 
marksman in a village is to bear away the palm. 
Thus every male you meet above the age of 
seventeen is a soldier, ready in an hour to take 
the field. 

Four weeks before the war broke out last year, 
General Dufour addressed from Bern a letter 
to the French Minister of War, Marshal Le Bceuf, 
on the defensive forces of his country. Bern is 
never likely to forget how often and how grossly 
France has violated Swiss neutrality in her wars 
with Germany and Italy. She feared that under 
stress of policy the third Napoleon might imitate 
the first ; and when the project of a second rail- 
way through the alps, by way of the St. Gothard 



312 



THE SWITZEBS. 



group — a project warmly backed in Munich and 
Berlin — was rousing France to jealousy, the aged 
Switzer took his pen and wrote these warning 
lines to Paris : — 

' We have an army, more than a hundred 
thousand strong, well drilled and armed, sup- 
ported by a landwehr, numbering very nearly a 
hundred thousand more. Our guns are ready 
for the field ; our rifles are as good as we 
can find. We have our camps for tactics, and 
our schools for exercise. We have among us 
many military circles ; but, beyond all these 
defences, we can count upon the national spirit 
in the heart of every citizen — a resolution to 
protect our independence and neutrality, let 
the storm break on us from whatever side it 
may/ 

General Dufour is under rather than above 
the mark in counting the defensive forces of his 
country at two hundred thousand men. 

The public force of Switzerland consists of 
three distinct lines: — 1. Elite; 2. Reserve ; 3. 
Landwehr. These are the official limits of the 
public force ; in actual fact the whole republic 
is one school of arms. 

A Switzer is officially a soldier from the hour 



DEFENCE. 



313 



he enters on his twentieth year, and he remains 
officially a soldier till he enters on his forty -fifth 
year. From nineteen up to thirty-four he serves 
in the Elite ; from thirty-four to forty he serves 
in the Reserve ; from forty to forty-five he serves 
in the Landwehr. But a Switzer is a soldier 
long before he enters on his twentieth year, and 
is a soldier after he has passed his forty-fifth. 
At fourteen Switzers have been known to fight 
in line ; and in the civil strife at Fribourg there 
were volunteers of seventy in the ranks. I hear 
of one case where an old man was rejected by 
his captain as too old ; he trudged into another 
Canton, where he was rejected as a volunteer ; 
and yet he followed his battalion to the field, 
and had a brisk encounter with the foe. In case 
of war against a foreign enemy old men and lads 
would flock in thousands to their flag. 

No Switzer can escape from service after he 
attains his twentieth year. In one of these three 
armies he must find his place. In actual service 
some exceptions are allowed by law, but not on 
personal grounds, and only in the interests of 
the fighting power. No other claim to an exemp- 
tion can be heard. All members of the Federal 
Council and the Cantonal Councils ; pastors, 



314 



THE SWITZEES. 



priests, and masters in the public schools ; some 
officers of the post, the railway, and the steam- 
boat service ; are exempt in virtue of their public 
duties. But the persons so exempted must have 
had their years of drill and shooting ; they are 
soldiers out of uniform, and fit for duty, though 
they are not called upon to act. In case of need, 
they have the use of arms, and at a press would 
seize them for defence. And these exemptions are 
not made for life ; they are not personal, but 
official ; and they cease the moment office is 
given up. A priest and pastor may be said to 
stand apart, because their functions, which imply 
the rule, are held for life ; but then the priest 
and pastor may be ordered in their sacred call- 
ing to attend the Federal armies to the field. 
All railway-porters, guards, and clerks are drilled 
in companies for the important work of transport, 
and in case of war the district General takes 
command, not only of the public roads, but of 
this powerful and efficient staff. Physicians, 
druggists, and horse-doctors, are relieved from 
bearing arms, but only if they march in their 
professional characters, and give the country 
more than bone and thew. A man who is the 
only son of a poor widow, or of aged parents, 



r 



DEFENCE. 315 

whom he has to keep, may claim to have his 
service lightened, so that he may not he taken 
far from home. 

Under the Federal Constitution (voted in 
1848— amended in 1866 and in 1871) the Federal 
army is composed of the several Cantonal forces. 
To the Elite, each Canton must constitute thirty 
men from every thousand souls ; to the Reserve 
fifteen men from every thousand souls. In case 
of danger, the Confederation may dispose of the 
Landwehr also, and, indeed, of every male Switzer 
from the age of nineteen up to forty-five. Nor 
are these armies all. In war the ranks are 
swollen by volunteers ; stout lads, who will not 
wait the legal age for fighting ; grisly men, in 
whom the patriotic fire still burns. Nor is the 
female part to be forgotten in an estimate of the 
national powers of self-defence. In every public 
school the girls are trained to take their part. 
They learn to staunch the flow of blood ; they learn 
to dress a gun-shot wound ; they learn to nurse 
the sick. Swiss women have the lessons and the 
habits that would make them useful in a field 
of strife. They understand their civic rights. 
They know some chemistry, and they are quick 
at sewing, binding, dressing, and such medical 



316 



THE SWITZERS. 



arts. If need be, they can march in line, with 
knapsack on their backs, and keep up with their 
brothers night and day. In a defensive war, 
they could be used as scouts, as messengers, as 
nurses, and as teamsters ; in a hundred things 
they would replace so many men. In fact, the 
fighting power of Switzerland, for purposes of 
home defence, is nearly that of all the population, 
male and female. 



317 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



THE PUBLIC FOKCE. 



One army in the world is not deceptive in the 
lists of rank and file. For every Swiss name on 
paper there is here an active trooper drilled and 
armed. Nay, more ; the companies and squadrons 
known at Bern and Thun are stronger in the 
field than in the books. 

The first army — that of the Elite — consists of 
70,088 effective men ; divided into these six 
branches : — 



1. Engineers . 

2. Artillery 

3. Cavalry 

4. Carabineers 

5. Infantry 

6. Sanitary service 



900 men. 
6,513 
1,937 
4,600 
55,994 

144 



70,088 

But when these figures are confronted with 
the Cantonal lists, a great discrepancy appears ; 



318 



THE SWITZERS. 



and, strange to say, the difference is in favour 
of the League. The Cantonal details show a 
total force in the Elite of 85,000 men; some 
fifteen thousand more than on the books. 

The second army — that of the Reserve — con- 
sists of 34,832 effective men; divided into these 
seven branches : — 



1. Engineers . 

2. Artillery . 

3. Cavalry 

4. Carabineers 

5. Infantry 

6. Sanitary service 

7. Armourers . 



630 men. 
4,254 
932 
2,460 
26,448 
78 
30 



34,832 

Comparing these lists in the War-office with 
the Cantonal returns, you note a second dis- 
crepancy in numbers, and again in favour of the 
actual strength. These Cantonal details show 
a total force in the Reserve of 45,000 men ; 
ten thousand more than in the books. 

These two armies — first and second army — 
constitute the Federal Forces, subject to the 
War Department. By law, each Canton must 
supply contingents to these Federal Forces ; but 
instead of failing to supply the full amount 
of their contingents (like some other countries not 



THE PUBLIC FORCE. 



319 



far off) the Cantons yield their tale of men, 
and keep a vast reserve of strength at home ; 
not less than five-and-twenty thousand men. 
In writing to Le Bceuf, Dufour spoke only of 
the Federal force — the paper army — which he 
counted roundly at a hundred thousand men. It 
stands a little over this amount. 

Elite of all arms . . . 70,088 men. 
Reserve ..... 34,832 

Total Federal Force . . 104,920 

The third army — Landwehr — is not under 
Federal control, except in time of war. The 
Cantons keep the regimental books ; and it is 
only from the Cantonal reports that one can learn 
the full amount of strength. The latest Cantonal 
reports make the full force of the three embodied 
Swiss armies — Elite, Reserve, and Landwehr — - 
202,854 men. 

To these large masses must be added all the 
Volunteers, both under military age and over 
military age ; the youths who are already ripe ; 
the greybeards who are also full of fight. 
From these two quarters, Switzerland might 
reckon on another hundred thousand men. In 
a defensive war, and none but a defensive war 



320 THE SWITZERS. 

could ever be proposed, the country could rely 
upon a fighting force — all nearly ready for the field 
— of something like three hundred thousand men. 

The army is composed of nine divisions, two 
roving brigades, and twenty-six detached com- 
panies. One division of artillery, and one divi- 
sion of cavalry, are in reserve. Each division, 
perfect in all arms, comprises : 

1. The general staff of the division. 

2. A company of guides. 

3. A company of sappers and miners. 

4. One brigade of artillery, with a park of guns. 

5. Three brigades of infantry ; each brigade of 

three regiments. 

6. One "brigade of carabineers. 

7. Three ambulances (one for each infantry 

brigade). 

8. Two squadrons of dragoons. 

When the Landwehr are not called out, 
a Swiss division counts ten thousand men, eight 
hundred horses, eighteen guns. 

The system of recruiting, drilling, and brigad- 
ing, is that of Prussia, not of France ; a local 
system, which combines in a brigade the men 
of one locality ; so that in the camp a soldier 
feels at home, amongst his friends ; his right and 
left hand flies in service being the neighbours 



THE PUBLIC FORCE. 



321 



whom he knows and trusts ; the men who would be 
near him in a snow-drift, at a fire, and in a flood. 
Each Canton has her drill-ground and her place of 
arms ; and even those who wish to have one Federal 
army rather than twenty -five Cantonal armies, 
would not change this local character of each 
brigade. A company is a Commune under 
arms. 

A French republican finds little that is demo- 
cratic in the composition of this force. The 
rank and file have no discretion as to when 
and how they serve. A bugle calls, and they fall 
in. They have no voice in settling why they 
march, and whether they shall fight or not. 
They have nothing to say in the appointment of 
their officers, and they are not allowed to criticise 
the orders given. In putting on his uniform, a 
citizen becomes a soldier, and is subject to the 
articles of war. The Federal Council names a 
Commander-in-Chief ; this officer is called his 
Excellency, like the President of the League ; 
he takes the rank of General, which he gains a 
right to hold for life. In peace, the League is 
the supreme authority. She makes the articles 
of war. She founds and carries on the military 
schools. She summons camps for training and 



322 THE SWITZERS. 

manoeuvres to be formed. She names the staff, 
and keeps the only patronage in her hands. She 
orders out the troops, and gives them her di- 
rections where to march. Except so far as every 
branch of government must be an outgrowth of 
the popular mind, a Swiss army is an aristocracy, 
and the directing power bears less resemblance 
to a Paris Commune than to a Venetian Council 
of Ten. 

The minister of War (who is, of course, a 
member of the Federal Council) corresponds with 
the military authorities of the several Cantons ; 
gives them orders what to do, and how to do them; 
overhauls their rules and articles ; and assigns 
the place and time for exercising the divisional 
troops. He goes to watch these troops afield; 
inspects their clothes and arms ; and sees that 
every one is duly lodged and fed. He keeps 
an eye upon the powder, shot, and shell. He 
looks to horse and harness, cart and ambulance ; 
but, most of all, he sees that every gun is clean 
and sound, and that the gunners know their 
trade. In time of peace, this minister is nearly 
as completely master of the Public Force as 
a commander-in-chief in time of war. 

No jealousy is ever shown by Swiss democracy 



THE PUBLIC FORCE. 



323 



of these great powers. In fact, the democrats 
of nearly every shade are clamouring for an 
increase of these public powers. 

The General Staff consists of one hundred 
officers of rank ; that is, of forty colonels, thirty 
lieutenant-colonels, and thirty majors ; with a 
number, never fixed by law, of captains and 
lieutenants. There are separate staffs for the 
Engineers, the Artillery, the Judiciary, the 
Commissariat, and the Sanitary Service. Staff- 
appointments are extremely onerous, and only 
rich men can afford to hold them. Colonels rank 
with general officers in any other army. They 
command divisions and brigades, and form in 
fact the General Staff. Promotion goes by merit 
only. When the Federal Council want a com- 
mander-in-chief, they are not bound to think of 
those who bear the name of general, nor to take 
a man because he may have been a colonel half his 
life. No claim of either rank or seniority is 
heard. They take the best man they can find, 
and having given him power, they trust him to 
perform his duty to the state. 

This General Staff conducts the military edu- 
cation of the people in the higher grades. Each 
Canton has the charge of teaching in the lower 



324 



THE SWITZERS. 



grades — the rank and file of Infantry and 
Chasseurs ■ — ■ especially the recruits ; the League 
reserves the duty of instructing the superior 
arms, the Engineers,- the Artillery, the Cavalry, 
and the Carabineers. For Infantry this period 
of instruction is at least thirty days ; for Chas- 
seurs at least thirty-seven days. For Engineers 
the period of instruction is at least forty-two 
days ; for Artillery and Cavalry the same ; for 
Carabineers thirty-five days. In after years, the 
men of the Elite are under arms five days a-year ; 
those of the Reserve four days ; and those of the 
Landwehr from one day to two days. The special 
arms must give a longer time to exercise and 
study in the field ; but still the time seems short 
to critics who compare the raw material of a 
French or an Italian soldier with the Swiss. 
Such men forget that when a Switzer joins his 
flag he is a soldier ready made. 

In carrying out her plan of teaching the su- 
perior grades the art of war, the League has 
founded six great schools. 

1. A Central Military School at Thun, to 
which all officers appointed to the General Staff 
repair to be instructed in their duties. 

2. A School of Officers at Thun, to which 



THE PUBLIC FORCE. 



325 



all officers appointed to their regiments repair to 
be instructed in their duties. 

3. A School of Cantonal Instruction, held in 
Basel, to which the infantry instructors come 
from every part of Switzerland to learn their 
duty, undergo inspection, and preserve a com- 
mon rule. 

4. A School for Young Officers, held at Solo- 
thurn and at St. Gallon, turn by turn, to which 
the several Cantons send their youths who have 
received commissions, and their youths who want 
commissions. 

5. A Commissariat School, to which is joined 
a Medical and Ambulance School. This school is 
generally held at Thun. 

6. A Shooting School, for officers who have 
to give instruction in their several Cantons at 
the butts. 

The military centre of the League is Thun, 
in Canton Bern. The secondary points are Zurich. 
Frauenfeld, Aarau, Winterthur, Luzern, Luzien- 
steig, Colombier, Payerne, Moudon, Biere, St. 
Maurice, and Bellinzona. Since the walls of 
Basel, Zurich, Bern, and Geneva, have been 
levelled, there are no great fortresses in Switzer- 
land. Three works of caution have been left at 



326 



THE SWITZERS. 



Bellinzona in Canton Ticino, at Luziensteio; in 
Canton Graubiinden, and St. Maurice in Canton 
Yalais. No one thinks of these poor ramparts 
as defences ; and the only question is, to what 
extent an enemy, in trying to force a passage 
through these alps, could count on meeting with 
a wall of steel and storm of lead in every pass ? 

' We are ready to protect our independence 
and neutrality, let the storm break on us from 
whatever side it may/ 

Le Bceuf received these words in Paris on the 
twenty-sixth of June ; and if the third Napoleon 
had been dreaming of a raid from Belfort into 
Southern Baden by the Basel bridge, as many 
people say, they were in time to make him 
pause and change his plan. A hundred thousand 
Switzers on Macmahon's flank would not have 
been such foes as any French officer could afford 
to leave beliind. Events soon showed Napoleon 
that the Switzers were in better preparation 
for campaigning than the French. 



327 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

IN THE FIELD. 

The French declaration of war was given in 
Paris on the afternoon of Friday, July 15. A 
courier bore the challenge to Berlin that night. 
A message was despatched to Bern with very 
curt announcement that the war was morally 
declared ; and on the Tuesday following, Wilhelm, 
King of Prussia, answered by a counter decla- 
ration from Berlin. 

But faster than this message from St. Cloud 
came into Bern the news that France was 
moving to the front. On Friday news was 
wired to President Dubs that France was ready 
and would fight. That evening President Dubs 
convened his Council in hot haste. 

Excepting Baden and Bavaria, no country had 
so much to fear from such a war as Switzerland. 
She lay between the combatants ; the fighting 
must be at her doors, and might be on her soil. 



328 



THE SWITZERS. 



When armies like the conquerors of Solferino and 
Sadowa rush upon each other, neutral states may 
chance to get some hurt, even if the great belli- 
gerents should try to spare them. How could 
President Dubs feel sure that France would try ? 
Old Switzers can recall a time when France 
converted Switzerland into her battle-field, an- 
nexed the Canton Valais, occupied Geneva, wrung 
the Bishopric of Biel from Bern, and opened Basel 
to assault by seizing the strong passes of the 
Ergolz and the Birse. A Switzer knows by in- 
stinct that when France is on the war-path, Basel 
and Geneva are the foremost objects of her pas- 
sionate desire. 

The Savoy Question was unsettled. By the 
public law of Europe, certain parts of Savoy have 
been neutralized, and Switzerland enjoys the right 
of occupying them in time of war, not only in 
her own defence, but in the cause of general peace. 
So long as Savoy was Italian, no one raised a 
word against this public law. When Savoy passed 
from Italy to France, the King transferred his 
province with the rights attaching to it. In the 
treaty of Turin, it is expressly said, ' The King of 
Sardinia cedes the neutralized districts on the 
same conditions as he held them ; ' and this 



IN THE FIELD. 



329 



treaty adds that France will come to an under- 
standing on this subject with the League and 
with the signatory powers. Napoleon had not 
kept his word. The Switzers wished this matter 
to remain within the sphere of public law ; but 
Paris would not listen to their voice. French 
pride pretended to be hurt. How could a power 
like France permit her freedom on her own estate 
to be controlled by public law ? She must be 
mistress in her own domain. No use to tell 
her she had taken Savoy subject to this public 
law. She was the sovereign judge of what she 
might and might not do. She would not listen 
to the Switzer s plea ; and so this Savoy Question 
still lay open when the war broke out. 

One hour after the President read his news 
from France, the Federal Council had agreed, 
to call upon the Cantons to complete their 
regiments with men, arms, horses, guns, and all 
the stores and tools required in actual war. These 
orders had been scarcely sent along the wires to 
east and west — to Basel, Bellinzona, Chur, and 
Sion — ere this Federal Council, quickened by yet 
fiercer news from Paris, had agreed to call out 
five divisions of the First Army — the Elite ; that 
is to say, the first, second, sixth, seventh, and 



330 



THE SWITZERS. 



ninth divisions, which were ordered to assemble 
in their several Cantons with the utmost speed. 
Full orders from the War Department followed 
these despatches to the Cantonal Councils and 
the Cantonal staffs. The first division, under 
Colonel Egtoff, was to throw itself upon Basel, to 
secure the bridge, and occupy the two banks of 
the Rhine. The second division, under Colonel 
Salis, was to move on Biel, and to hold the roads 
and streams from Nidau, Solothurn, and Delemont. 
The sixth division, under Colonel Stadler, was to 
rest on Bern, to succour and replace the second, 
should it prove too weak. The seventh division, 
under Colonel Isler, was to march on Fruenfeld, 
take up head-quarters in that town, and send 
out men to watch the narrows of the Bhine as 
nigh as Burg. The ninth division, under Colonel 
Schadler, was to cross by the St. Gothard, from 
Ticino, drop to Altdorf, and take up their quar- 
ters in Luzern. 

The men were taken by surprise, if ever S wit- 
hers can be taken by surprise. An hour before the 
news from Bern came flashing into Aargau, Thur- 
gau, Zurich, and St. Gallen, late on Friday night, 
not one in fifty knew that war was likely to break 
out; still less could he imagine that this tug of 



IN THE FIELD. 



331 



Bonaparte with Bismarck was to call him under 
arms, and bring his training in the school and 
drill-ground to a sudden test. Yet every man 
was ready for the call. 

On Saturday morning it was noised abroad 
in Aarau that the country was in danger ; that 
the Federal Council had been sitting through the 
night ; that men and guns were asked for in hot 
haste ; and that the road to Basel was the line 
of march. By noon, strong squads of men were 
falling in before the new Town Hall. The 
district troops came pouring in. Some companies 
were quickly formed ; their guns were drawn 
into the front ; the cavalry rode up ; the sappers, 
engineers, and guides got ready ; officers were 
at their posts ; and early in the afternoon the 
first Swiss troops were on the road. At midnight, 
as the Basel minster chimed the hour, these men 
of Aargau marched into that town. On Sunday 
morning, when the citizens awoke, they found 
these allies standing on their famous bridge ; 
they felt that bridge was now made safe ; and 
after service in the church they spent the summer 
day in helping these brave lads to chant the 
6 Wacht am Bhein/ 

By Sunday night, the first division, Colonel 



332 



THE SWITZERS. 



Egtoff, and the second division, Colonel Salis, 
were complete. The sixth and seventh divisions, 
under Colonel Stadler and Colonel Isler, were 
advancing, and by Tuesday they were also ready 
for the field. The ninth division, under Colonel 
Schadler, was assembling in the south at Bellin- 
zona. All the five divisions called into the 
field on Friday night by messages from Bern, 
were under arms before the proclamation of war 
was issued in Berlin. 

These five divisions of the first Swiss 
army, with their batteries of artillery, stood as 
follows : — 



Staff and Guides 


104 men 


. 105 horses 


First division 


. 8,296 


. 692 


Second „ 


. 8,319 


. 632 


Sixth „ 


. 7,377 


. 767 


Seventh „ 


. 7,368 


. 670 


Ninth „ 


. 5,959 


. 671 


Total - 


. 37,423 


3,541 



These forces were supported by eleven bat- 
teries of artillery, mounting sixty-six field-pieces. 

When the news that Bismarck had replied by 
war arrived in Bern on Tuesday night, a sitting 
of the National Assembly was convened, to name 
a General for the army and a chief of staff. All 



IN THE FIELD. 



333 



sovereign acts are done by the Assembly ; but as 
every member of the Federal Council is an officer 
of the Assembly, not a voice was raised against 
this calling out of troops. The President had done 
his duty to the League. 

Appoint a General ! Every eye was fixed on 
General Dufour. This aged warrior fills in Bern 
the space once occupied in London by the Iron 
Duke. No name is known like his in every farm 
and shop ; and as an act of deference to his age 
and name the Assembly called him to the chief 
command. But he declined the burden as beyond 
his strength. Dufour is eighty-five years old. 

It was not easy to replace him ; for the 
news which streamed along the wires from Paris 
grew each hour from bad to worse ; and with 
a man like Grammont at the Foreign Office any- 
thing unseemly and unjust might be expected 
from the French. In early life Dufour had been 
a personal friend of Louis Napoleon ; he was 
known to French marshals as a thorough soldier; 
and his presence in the field would almost count 
for a brigade. If Louis Napoleon and his gene- 
rals were to be entreated, no man could entreat 
them with the presence of Dufour. 

But, on the other side, the Federal Council 



334 



THE SWITZERS. 



were not anxious to entreat the French. When 
Grammont sent them notice that the war was 
morally declared, expecting them to take an 
attitude of service to his master, they replied 
by a decree, announcing that 'any troops be- 
longing to belligerent states, and whether they 
be regulars or volunteers, who violate the ter- 
ritories of the League, will be repelled by force/ 
They instantly forbade the export of arms and 
war material, and removed all stores and weapons 
from their frontier towns. They gave instructions 
to their magistrates to seize deserters and disarm 
any companies of soldiers on Swiss soil. They 
raised once more the Savoy Question ; pressing 
what they felt to be their right and duty at St. 
Cloud. Napoleon was annoyed ; he would not 
listen ; he was busy with affairs. They notified 
the signing powers that they retained their rights 
intact ; that when they judged it necessary in de- 
fence of their neutrality and independence they 
would occupy the parts of Savoy bordering on 
their lake. This note was laid before Napoleon 
at St. Cloud. He would not answer them with 
either yea or nay. 

Alarmed by all these signs of French contempt 
for what concerned them in their dearest rights, 



IN THE FIELD. 



335 



the Leaguers turned their faces to the men who 
were the first afield, the men of Aargau ; from 
whose ranks they chose an officer of high dis- 
tinction in his craft, Hans Herzog, Colonel in 
the Federal army, as their chief. On Friday, 
Herzog came to Bern and took the usual oaths ; 
on Saturday he was at Olten — his head-quarters, 
and the centre of the Swiss railways — where he 
issued his instructions to the troops. No gun had 
yet been fired, nor were the Zouaves swarming 
past the Rhine ; yet every fore-post of the Swiss 
was pushed into the front. Colonel EgtofF, having 
occupied the bridge of Basel, struck into the 
gorges of the Birse and Ergolz, shutting up the 
two French gateways through the Jura mountains 
towards the Rhine. Col. Salis marched through 
Biel, made Delemont his head- quarters, and threw 
out his wings to Porrentruy and Laufen, close to 
France. Instead of resting on his arms at Bern, 
Colonel Stadler marched .the sixth division to 
Munchenbuchsee, and spread his tents along the 
Emme and the Aar. From Frauenfeld, Colonel 
Isler moved the seventh division up to Frick, 
from which he sent out posts to Rheinfelden, 
near the edge of Basel-land. Colonel Schadler 
had now come up with the ninth division, and 



336 



THE SWITZERS, 



pitched his camps, with Biilach as head-quarters, 
from the Rhine, the Limmat, and the Toss. 
One regiment of foot, one battery of guns, one 
company each of sappers and dragoons, were sent 
from his division to Schaffhausen. The public 
forces now afield consisted of the following arms : 



Staff officers 

Engineers 

Artillery 

Cavalry 

Carabineers 

Infantry 



278 
492 

2,826 
762 

3,427 
29,538 

37,323 



men 



Such were the forces, such the dispositions, 
of the Swiss army only three days after war had 
been declared by Bismarck in Berlin. 

News came to General Herzog, that the French 
were massing troops at Belfort ; that orders had 
been sent to seize all carts and carriages in 
Alsace ; and that the farmers of St. Louis, close 
to Basel, had been told to cut their grain, as 
camps on an enormous scale were soon to be 
established near the Rhine. 

No bridge but that of Basel would have served 
the French to cross by. That of Strassburg was 
destroyed, and that of Mannheim was beyond their 



IN THE FIELD. 



337 



reach. His news inclined the Swiss Commander- 
in-chief to fear that General Douay would be 
ordered to advance on Basel, and he instantly 
prepared his troops on every point for actual 
war. 

His first care was to organize his staff; his 
next to park and clear his guns. When these 
were done, he called the medical chief into his 
room, and formed two hospitals at each head- 
quarters — one for horses, one for wounded men. 
He ordered magazines of stores and clothes to be 
established in his rear, and then pushed up his 
forces to the front. Isler's division moved to 
Rheinfelden, and a second portion of Schadler's 
force was sent to occupy the neighbourhood of 
Schaffhausen. Plans for a campaign were studied 
on the theory of a French advance on Baden 
through the Swiss defiles. The Germans, massing 
under Maintz, were blowing up their bridges on 
the Kinzig, in the southern front of Kehl. They 
must be fearing an attack in force. The Baden 
roads were stript of men, and every town along 
the Rhine, from Constanz down to Rastadt, lay 
exposed to Zouave raids. If France was ready 
for her spring — as every one in Paris vaunted — 
he had only too much reason to believe that 

z 



338 



THE SWITZEES. 



she would try to push across his lines, and take 
her enemy on his weakest side. 

A troop of engineers dropt down the Rhine 
from Burg to Basel, studying every pass and 
point, and leaving companies of sappers at each 
bridge, with orders and materials to destroy it 
should an enemy appear in any strength. A staff 
of engineers went out to Bruderholz, and drew 
up plans for fortifying that important point. All 
railway companies were ordered to report their 
stock of engines, carriages, and open wagons, 
which, in case of need, might be impounded 
for the public service. These returns were quickly 
made. 

248 railway engines. 

911 carriages with. 41,000 seats. 
1769 wagons ; capable of carrying 11,000 horses. 
1925 open wagons. 

Five new telegraphic stations were established, 
and in thirty-four stations service was arranged 
to be conducted through the night. With every 
arm prepared for duty, if the duty of resistance 
should be cast upon him, General Herzog listened 
for the boom of coming guns. 

A fortnight passed in silence and amazement. 
Not a gun was fired in earnest. Not a Zouave 



IN THE FIELD. 



339 



crossed the Rhine. No enemy was seen from the 
Cathedral tower. 

At length, the thunder broke — with peal on 
peal, and crash on crash. On Thursday, August 4, 
came Weissenburg ; on Saturday, came Worth 
and Speicheren ; on Tuesday, August 1 4, came 
Courcelles ; on Thursday, Mars la Tour ; on 
Friday, Rezonville ; on Saturday, Gravelotte. 
The storm of war rolled heavily towards the 
north and west ; and then, all danger to the 
Cantons having passed away in the Teutonic 
victories, General Herzog reported that his opera- 
tions might be closed ; and in accordance with 
his hints, the camps were raised, the charges 
drawn, the gallant troops sent home. 



340 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

OUT AGAIN. 

In dead of winter those who had not served in 
that campaign were under arms in turn. 

For six clear months — from August to Jan- 
uary, from the battle of Gravelotte to the march 
of Bourbaki — the Switzers were at peace. No 
one imagined that the German armies would 
profane their soil. In every question that arose, 
Berlin was courteous, if not more. 

When the Prussian Minister in Bern was 
asked if Bismarck would consent to Switzerland 
occupying Chablais and Fauciny, in accordance 
with her treaty rights, that Minister replied, 
£ Yes; occupy them; we approve/ The point 
was pressed a little more : ' If we should stay 
there?' 'We should still approve/ At one time 
there was trouble at Schaffhausen, and the Baden 
papers called for annexation of that awkward 
little slice of German land. ' You are accused of 



OUT AGAIN. 



341 



wishing for Schaffhausen/ said a member of the 
diplomatic body to the Prussian Minister in 
Bern. ' Of wishing for Schaffhausen ! ' laughed 
that officer ; ' in place of trying to weaken 
Switzerland, we wish to round her off and 
strengthen her by northern Savoy/ 

With Sedan there came a change. The very 
day the French republic was proclaimed in Paris, 
President Dubs held out his hand to her. ' We 
trust/ he said, c to see the new republic, sister 
of our own, and born amidst so many troubles, 
give to France an honourable peace, and a long 
reign of liberty/ This haste of President Dubs 
was strongly blamed, both in the Chamber and 
the press. Why should a Switzer be the first to 
speak? ' No doubt/ the President replied, 'we 
have been swifter than the Cantons would have 
been ; for instance, Appenzell, which has not yet 
had time to recognise the government of Louis- 
Philippe/ But the Federal Council, while ex- 
changing blandishments with France, were bound 
to keep an eye on what was being done in Paris 
and in Tours. Gambetta would not yield the 
point of right and law ; and left the Savoy 
Question open in his selfish interests ; seeing, that 
if the Germans captured Lyons, it might be 



342 



THE SWITZERS. 



well for France to have the Savoy districts covered 
by a friendly State. 

About the darkest time of winter a report 
arrived in Bern from Tours and Orleans, that 
a desperate effort would be made to strike the 
Rhine near Basel. Not a flying column, but an 
army of a hundred and fifty thousand men, con- 
ducted by the dashing and unscrupulous Bourbaki, 
was to force the Prussian camps, deliver Belfort, 
sweep across the Rhine, and carry fire and sword 
into the Fatherland. At first, nobody would 
accept this news. No soldier in his senses, said 
experienced officers of the staff, could dream of 
making such a raid ; but whether he was sane 
or not, Bourbaki had accepted such a mission, 
and was on his way towards Belfort and the 
Rhine. 

Already three brigades of the third division, 
under Colonel Aubert, were afield round Porren- 
truy, observing the affair at Belfort, and the lesser 
matters of the franc-tireurs and Garibaldians on 
the Lisaine. Colonel Aubert's troops were of the 
district, men who knew the roads, and were at 
home among the heaps of falling snow. 

By night and day slight skirmishes took place 
between the franc-tireurs and German troops. 



OUT AGAIN. 



343 



Some shells and bullets crossed the line. At 
AbeVilliers and at Croix, small actions were ex- 
changed ; and in the second week of the new 
year, were followed by a running fight along the 
Lisaine, close to Hericourt and Montbeliard. As 
skirmish trod upon the heels of skirmish, Colonel 
Aubert, acting under his instructions from the 
War Department, which is wisely liberal with 
such officers, called out the whole array of local 
troops, and also sent to Bern for further aid in 
men and guns. 

When President Schenk — who had succeeded 
Dubs — got certain news that France was march- 
ing towards the Rhine, he called his Council to 
confer. Their sitting was not long. Bombaki's 
troops must come near Basel ; they would find 
no other bridge by which to cross the Rhine ; 
and the temptation to profane Swiss soil might 
prove too strong for men so desperately pushed by 
fortune. Everything was to be feared. Schenk 
hurried up some guns and men from Zurich, 
Thurgau, and Schaffhausen. He called into the 
field two full divisions of the army — third and 
fifth — and sent to General Herzog for advice. 
' The danger/ wrote that General, * seems to me 
much greater for the country now than when I 



344 



THE SWITZERS. 



took the command in July last. I see that one 
of two things must happen : either (l) that one 
of the two armies fighting at our doors may drive 
the other into our territory ; or (2) that one of 
the two foreign generals, seeking for advantages 
against his rival which he cannot gain by lawful 
means, will violate our soil. In either case, the 
forces in the field are much too weak/ The Pre- 
sident agreed with Herzog. In taking his com- 
mand once more, General Herzog asked that 
the fourth division should be called into the field. 
He also asked for two batteries of mountain 
guns ; one battery, 26, from Graubiinden, and 
the second battery, 27, from Yalais. These bat- 
teries were well prepared for winter service in a 
district lying under snow. 

On Thursday, January 19, General Herzog 
quitted Bern to take up his command. The 
troops were new to Mm, and to each other. Not 
a man had been in actual camp before that week, 
and officers, as well as rank and file, had every- 
thing to learn. On Friday Herzog was at Basel, 
where he placed his fifth division under orders 
to secure the bridge, and guard the various pass- 
ages of the Bhine where pontoons might be thrown 
across. Despatches followed him from Bern to 



OUT AGAIN. 



345 



Basel, telling him, in substance, that the Federal 
Council hoped he would not need to arm the 
fourth division. Snatching up his pen he wrote, 
' The failure of Bourbaki, and the fact that Prus- 
sian troops are edging his left flank, assure me 
of the end. The Germans mean to push the 
French, in either whole or part, across our fron- 
tier, and to put them out of service for the 
present war. I therefore beg once more, and in 
the strongest terms, for greater levies. If we are 
to do the work that lies before us, we must 
arm/ On Saturday, he heard of new successes 
by the Germans on the Lisaine ; whereupon he 
ordered up his fifth division to the neighbour- 
hood of Delemont, while he swung the various 
regiments of his third division round about 
Porrentruy. His own head-quarters were to 
be at Laufen. All his orders given, he was 
about to mount his horse, and ride to Laufen 
with his staff, when he received an order from 
the War Department to repair at once to Olten, 
where the Federal Minister of War was staying, 
and explain more fully why he wished to have 
the fourth division out. In fifteen minutes he 
had satisfied that Minister. Instructions were at 
once sent out; and Herzog, going back by train 



346 



THE SWITZERS. 



to Basel, leapt into his saddle, and departed for 
Laufen that winter night. 

On Sunday morning he arrived, and having 
glanced at posts and papers, rode that day to 
Delemont. On Monday he pushed on for Porren- 
truy. The roads lay deep in snow ; but all night 
long the crisp and silent air was broken by a 
crash of distant guns. French regiments were 
forming at Blamont, with eighteen pieces of 
artillery ; a force, as Herzog learnt, which was 
designed to operate on Delle. The nearest way 
for them to march on Delle was through the 
Swiss defiles ; and Colonel Aubert, with the 
third division, occupied these roads with orders 
to disarm the enemy should they break his lines. 
Would they submit to be disarmed? No one 
could tell ; but if they hesitated at the sum- 
mons, Aubert was to open fire. 

All Sunday night, all Monday night, the 
Switzers lay upon the ground and listened for 
the noise of tramping feet. A world of snow and 
ice was heaped around their camps. The sky 
was clear, and bright with stars. Blamont was 
still. Afar off, in the mountain silence, they 
could catch the throb and clink of guns at 
Belfort ; but the nearer masses of the French 



OUT AGAIN. 



347 



were all at peace, as though the wintry frost 
had seized and wrapt them in her silent shroud. 

On Tuesday, Herzog rode along his lines from 
Porrentruy to Fahy, where he looked across 
the frontier into Abevilliers, and from Fahy 
to Damvant, where he looked across into Bla- 
mont. Eighteen hundred franc-tireurs were still 
in Blamont, under Colonel Bourras ; but the 
Swiss commander, satisfied that these irregulars 
would not fall upon his posts, returned that night 
to Porrentruy, in order to be near the centre of 
events. His staff remained at Delemont in the 
rear. That night a person came across the 
border, who reported that the Germans were 
expecting an attack near Delle. At once the 
General leapt to horse, and rode to his advanced 
posts in the mountains, near the French hamlet 
of Boucourt, from whose outlook he could glance 
into the roads round Delle. He found his troops 
in good condition, stout of heart, well armed 
and clothed, in every point a credit to their 
flag. Across the border, lay a white and silent 
land. 

On Thursday morning came in more decisive 
news. Bourbaki, foiled at every turn, was falling 
back upon Besancon ; but the agile Prussians 



348 



THE SWITZERS. 



were at Dole, between the town of Lyons and the 
French. Now Herzog saw that if this news 
were true, there was no chance of saving that 
French army from captivity, except by throwing 
it across the frontier into Switzerland. 



349 



CHAPTER XXXY. 

A CROWNING SERVICE. 

To General Herzog these results were no surprise ; 
he had foreseen them from the first ; and yet the 
vast proportions of the French disaster weighed 
upon his mind. A hundred thousand men, with 
arms and guns intact, but wanting food and fuel, 
shoes and shelter, stood before his little camp. A 
mighty and victorious foe was pressing on their 
Hank and rear. He could not tell what men so 
desperate as that broken host might not attempt. 
His force was under twenty thousand men, and 
with a border line to guard extending from the 
Miinster Thai to Val de Travers ; yet he stood to 
meet them, if they crossed his borders, with the 
bearing of a man whose will must be obeyed. 

Two days were spent by him in watching 
under arms. The cold was very sharp ; the snow 
lay very deep ; and, worse than all, a strong 
north wind swept down the Jura slopes in 



350 



THE SWITZERS. 



gusts. He dared not let his men lie still, and 
while he was compelled to wait events, he 
moved his troops about the mountain roads, at 
once to keep them warm and occupy their minds. 
Both officers and men were equal to their work. 
His troops were warmly clad and fully fed. At 
times they had to lodge in scanty sheds, and 
yet his lists of sick were very low. They marched 
up heights from which they could peep over into 
France, now white with winter, and could all 
but see into the streets of that once famous 
Hericourt, in scaling which their sires had won 
the pure white cross. 

On Saturday morning (Jan. 28) the General 
heard from Colonel Grandjean, who was stationed 
at Les Verrieres with some companies, that the 
Prussians were at Salins — that Bourbaki was at 
Bouclans, near Besancon — that the French army 
was disorganised — but that many of the officers 
imagined they could still retreat on Lyons by 
the mountain roads of Mouthe and St. Claud. 
Next came despatches from Colonel Aubert that 
the French were quitting Pont-de-Roide, which 
they had held in force, and were retreating on 
St. Hippolite and Maiche. These movements led 
him to suppose that some large masses of the 



A CROWNING SERVICE. 



351 



French might get away into the south, and that 
his troops would only have to deal with broken 
corps and separated regiments. If this were so, 
the danger of political conflicts would be lessened, 
while the fear of isolated fights would be in- 
creased. To meet these perils he must throw 
his forces into every ravine leading through the 
J ura, from the gates of Basel to Geneva, since the 
wandering bands of French might strike his lines 
at any point. 

Some orders had been sent to Col. Aubert, 
when, near midnight, news came in from 
Col. Grandjean, at Les Verrieres, that Bourbaki 
had killed himself ; that a hundred and twenty 
thousand French were near Besancon ; that the 
Prussians held the roads at Quingez and St. Vit ; 
that every hope of falling back on Lyons was 
abandoned ; and that all these broken hosts 
would soon be on his hands — to fight, if they 
would not submit — to feed and lodge, if they 
should pile their arms. A journal came by 
post, with telegrams from Versailles, announcing 
that Manteufel was driving Bourbaki and his 
broken troops along the left bank of the river 
Doubs. 

The facts were clear at last ; for whether 



352 



THE SWITZERS. 



General Bourbaki was alive or dead — of which 
there seemed some doubt — a great part of his 
army had been caught. That army had no choice 
but either yield their arms or cross the frontier. 
Herzog felt that they would cross. At once he 
made his dispositions, so that every gorge and 
passage of the Jura should be held in force ; 
the colonels having strict commands to fire into 
any body of troops, however large, which hesi- 
tated at a summons to disarm. 

By long quick marches, such as German troops 
alone could match, the Swiss brigades were 
thrown along the range, from Bassecourt to 
the Sagne. These valleys in the Jura are not 
rich. A race of miners, quarry-men and charcoal- 
burners, dwell in villages far apart. Their life, 
at all times hard, is hardest in the winter months, 
when every road is buried under snow, and every 
lakelet is a bed of ice. Yet when these villagers 
saw the troops march in — young fellows who had 
left their cosy homes in Zurich and Schaffhausen, 
to defend their native soil from insult — they re- 
ceived them gladly in their houses, set before 
them what they had of best, and even turned 
their class-rooms into temporary camps. 

While General Herzog was arranging either 



A CROWNING SERVICE. 



353 



to receive or to repel the French, Manteufel fell 
upon the routed army near Besancon, broke them 
at a shock, and forced them back into Pontarlier, 
whence they had one issue only — by the gorge 
of Fort de Joux, which led them straight upon 
- the Swiss frontiers. 

A single road leads out of Pontarlier eastward 
to St. Pierre la Cluse, where it forks out ; one 
prong extending to Les Verrieres and the Yal de 
Travers, leading on to Neufchatel ; the other 
prong deploying to the right by way of Jougne 
and Orbe to Canton Vaud. The railway line from 
Bern to Paris passes by the Val de Travers to 
Pontarlier, and this railway line being open, it 
was evident to Gen. Herzog that the French 
would try to enter by this shorter path. He 
therefore called in Col. Aubert from the neigh- 
bourhood of Blamont, swung his right wing 
round towards Neufchatel, and pushed as many 
men as he could muster down the Yal de Travers. 
Fixing his staff at Neufchatel, he went in person 
to the frontier hamlet called Les Yerrieres, to be 
near the broken and unruly French. 

Before him rose the battlements of La Cluse 
and Fort de Joux (two strongholds which the 
French have armed against the Switzers), covered 



354 



THE SWITZERS. 



with the wintry ice and snow ; and close behind 
these frowning batteries lay some eighty thousand 
Frenchmen, mad with shame and hunger, who 
might rush at any moment on his guns. As yet, 
no word had come to tell him in what mood of 
mind they stood. He drew his forces into line, 
and waited, under those French guns, to hear 
what France would say. 

On Tuesday he received a message from Pon- 
tarlier in the shape of a great train of sick and 
wounded men, which rolled into Les Verrieres, 
drew up in the village, and awaited orders to 
go on. Four hundred men were in this train ; 
but no one was in charge of it — no officer with 
the troops — no doctor with the sick. It was a 
lazaretto emptied on his camp. The train 
appeared to have been flung at him, as if 
to try his mettle. Should his feeling get the 
better of his judgment they might hope to see 
him yield on other points ; but Herzog was too 
wise a soldier to give way in what was matter 
of the highest duty in his station at the sight of 
pain. Such flinging of their sick and wounded 
men into another country was a violation of the 
public law of Europe. Many of these sufferers 



A CROWNING SERVICE. 



355 



seemed to be afflicted with contagious maladies — 
with typhus, measles, cholera — and General Herzog 
was amazed to think that any staff-officer should 
order such attempts upon his patience to be made. 
He sent his adjutant, Colonel Sieber, to the French 
head-quarters at Pontarlier to protest against such 
acts, and to demand the instant signing of an 
article preventing them at any future time. The 
French accepted his rebuke, excused their negli- 
gence, and signed two articles of agreement ; one 
by which they bound themselves not to send over 
any soldiers who were suffering from contagious 
maladies ; and a second, by which the Switzers 
were to arrest all fugitives and deliver them up 
at the nearest French posts. 

A little after midnight (Wednesday morning, 
Feb. 1st) General Herzog was requested to receive 
Colonel Chevals, of the French staff, who came 
to him in the name of General Clinchant- — 
acting for Bourbaki — to demand from the Swiss 
republic food and shelter for a brave and friendly 
army, which was forced by adverse fortune to 
seek a refuge on her soil. General Herzog 
named his first condition • a complete surrender ■ — 
arms, guns, horses, men and officers. Colonel 



356 



THE SWITZERS. 



Chevals came with full authority to treat, and 
the most pressing article was soon reduced to 
form. It ran : — 

Article 1. The French army, seeking to pass 
into Swiss territory, lays down its arms, equip- 
ments, and munitions at the frontier. 

But many other things were yet to be ar- 
ranged ; in all, ten articles had to be discussed ; 
and these two soldiers sat up all the night re- 
ducing details into form. At four o'clock came 
news from Meudon, on the frontier, that heavy 
masses of French guns were pressing the Swiss 
Colonel Scherrer and his infantry, as though 
they meant to push across the frontier in defiance 
of his arms. At night, these guns had been sent 
forward from St. Pierre, and in the early watches 
of the morning an attempt was being made to get 
them on the other side. At once the General 
rose, and ordering out a whole brigade despatched 
them on the instant to repel the French. 

Colonel Chevals saw with what a man he 
had to deal. By half-past four the treaty was 
complete. By five o'clock it was accepted and 
countersigned by General Clinchant, who was 
waiting in his carriage at the frontier, ready to 
drive in the moment he had signed his name. 



A CROWNING SERVICE. 



357 



Hardly was the paper signed before the mul- 
titude of men and guns came swarming over ; 
General Clinchant first ; close after him the 
general staff: and then the troops pell-mell, in 
broken, tipsy, and disordered ranks. With Clin- 
chant and the staff drove strings of private car- 
riages, with blinds and fastenings down. Then 
rolled in many vehicles : post-wagons, ambu- 
lances, military chests. Some Switzers were 
amused, and some were shocked, by what they 
saw. While not a few great officers had with 
them actresses, and golden plate, and costly claret 
and champagne, the rank and file had neither 
shoes nor over-coats to keep them warm in that 
high region, that inclement month. ' In worn-out 
shoes, in wooden clogs, and even with their feet 
bound up in rags, these wretched soldiers had 
to drag their rifles through the snow ! ' These 
words are General Herzog's words. At Meudon 
every man laid down his sword, his fusil, and 
his cartridge-box ; until the heap of weapons rose 
into a hill. In all the French gave up two hun- 
dred and eighty-four pieces of artillery; sixty- 
three thousand four hundred and twelve fusils ; 
fifty-three thousand seven hundred yatagans ; 
three thousand and thirty bayonets ; eight thou- 



358 



THE SWITZERS. 



sand and seventy swords. The powder and the ' 
bullets were not weighed and counted. Ten 
thousand six hundred and forty-nine horses were 
received. So ignorant were the French officers 
of their army, that they gave the numbers who 
came after them at forty-two thousand men. 
The actual numbers, when the Switzers counted 
them for food and beds, were 83,301. 

The French came hustling over — frozen, tipsy, 
insubordinate ; all arms in one wild welter ; lines- 
men mixed with Zouaves ; cavalry riding over 
guns and gunners ; stores invaded and destroyed ; 
no rank and step, no time and order ; everybody 
pushing to the front ; the four great army-corps 
convulsed into that worst kind of mob, a military 
mob. c Your corps must gather to their standards/ 
cried the Swiss Commander ; ' let your 15th corps 
assemble at Couvet, your 18th corps at Motier, 
your 20th corps at Fleurier, your 24th corps at 
Travers/ General Borel, and other French officers, 
rode off to make these efforts in the cause of 
order. Here and there a regiment of the line, 
and part of the artillery, fell in ; but not one com- 
pany in five obeyed their captains. When the 
colonels rode among the crowd, they were re- 
ceived with yells and curses. Every one accused 



A CROWNING SERVICE. 



359 



them of incompetence, and charged on them the 
sufferings and disasters of their troops. With 
pale, sad visage Borel rode into the Swiss head- 
quarters to report that in the present temper of 
his countrymen no voice would be obeyed, unless 
that voice were backed by visible force. 

Since the French could not keep order, Herzog 
placed the four French armies under charge of his 
own officers and troops. Despatching Col. Chouard 
to Fleurier, Col. Schramli to Couvet, and CoL 
Cocatrix to Travers with their several regiments, 
he issued orders that the French should be di- 
rected on those villages in bodies of a thousand 
each, pell-mell, as they arrived at Meudon and 
laid down their arms. These orders were received 
with murmurs here and there ; but still they 
were obeyed. A dozen Swiss soldiers with their 
pieces charged and bayonets fixed, sufficed to lead 
French columns of a thousand each ; and General 
Herzog was surprised to find how patient and 
obedient these French soldiers could be when they 
saw that they were handled well. ' They saw at 
once/ he says, ' whether a troop-officer knew his 
duty/ Many of the French colonels asked his 
leave to go at once into the Cantons, separate 
from their troops. 



360 



THE SWITZERS. 



A dangerous incident occurred. 

On Thursday evening, late, a Prussian officer 
of Uhlans rode into La Verrieres, with a letter 
from the Prussian General Schmeling, addressed 
to Gen. Clinchant, offering, on the part of Gen. 
Schmeling, to restore two thousand rifles taken 
from the French at Chaffois, on account of some 
irregularity in the form of capture. General Her- 
zog gave his help to the accomplishment of a 
chivalrous act of war ; and Clinchant having 
gratefully accepted the German soldier's offer, 
Herzog sent his orders to the forces stationed 
at the Col des Roches, near Locle, to receive 
the wagon-load of arms from the Prussian au- 
thorities. A squad of German soldiers brought 
this wagon to the Col des Poches, and having 
given it to the Switzers were returning to their 
camp, when they were fired upon by franc- 
tireurs, who had gone out and lay in ambush for 
them. Some of the squad were killed, some 
wounded, and the rest made prisoners, by an act 
of treachery, which Herzog afterwards described 
as 'a revolting abuse of the asylum offered to 
the French/ The Switzer in command at Locle 
was a man of steel. At once he seized the mur- 
derers, much to their surprise ; at once he sent 



A CROWNING SERVICE. 



361 



the German soldiers back to their own camp. A 
fever seized upon the French. They thought their 
franc-tireurs were right ; and as this crime — if 
crime it were — was one committed on the soil 
of France, they claimed to judge them by their 
local law. To this demand the Switzers were 
obliged to yield. ' No man/ said General Herzog^ 
with the indignation of a soldier, i could foresee 
that a French tribunal would add to the original 
villany the still higher ignominy of liberating 
such assassins/ 

This enormous host, demoralised by pride and 
misery, were received, disarmed, and led into 
their cantonments by less than twenty thousand 
citizen troops, without the forfeit of a single 
life. 

The General who commanded the Swiss army 
through this crowning service speaks of rank 
and file with pride, though not without some 
drawbacks to his praise. The colonels, too, are 
satisfied with their men. Some Cantons have a 
quicker aptitude for war than others. Basel, 
Aargau, Bern, and Zurich, turn out men whom 
any soldier would be glad to lead. St. Gallen, 
Thurgau, and Luzern, come next. The men of 
Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, make good sol- 



362 



THE SWITZERS. 



diers ; they are hardy, patient, brave ; but badly 
taught and very poorly armed. In Canton Valais 
there is but one arm — the battery of mountain- 
guns ; in every other branch this Canton falls 
below the mark. If Canton Vaud is better than 
Canton Valais, it is still a fact that La Suisse 
Homande is weaker in the field than even in the 
school. Canton Ticino is the worst of all ; being 
bad in every branch alike. Her men are weak ; 
her arms are old ; her drill is loose ; her officers 
are dolts. 

The lessons learnt in these campaigns have 
quickened the desire for a more central system 
of recruitment and instruction, such as that 
adopted in the Federal pact. 

Swiss Engineers receive the highest praise from 
General Herzog, who is not a man to say the 
word he does not mean. The gunners, sappers, 
guides, and carabineers, are also highly praised ; 
except the gunners from Ticino, who are thoroughly 
condemned. And what about the rank and file — 
these weavers, tapsters, goldsmiths, herdsmen, 
farmers, what not — who are bugled from their 
beds, and sent into the field, alike in sultry heat 
and biting frost ? 

' They are a set of riff-raff/ says a foreign 



A CROWNING SERVICE. 



363 



soldier, as we sit in Bern beneath the limes, and 
watch the gold and pink fade slowly from the 
Jungfrau and the Bllimlisalp ; 6 you could not 
call them soldiers by the side of French and 
English troops/ 

c Did you see them when they came back 
from the Jura mountains V 

' Yes. Some weeks of camp had much im- 
proved them. They could walk in step, and 
hold their heads erect. Their skin was bronzed, 
their beards were grown, and they could tell an 
officer of rank by sight/ 

'These fellows have good stuff in them, 
another foreign soldier says ; £ they know what 
they are doing ; they can read and write ; great 
numbers of them speak two languages ; and 
every man has been a soldier from his youth. 
They do not know how brave they are. With 
six months' fighting in the field, these fellows 
would be able to do anything they liked/ 

' They might be able to defend their homes 
in case they were attacked/ remarks a Swiss 
professor with a pleasant irony of voice. c There 
is another thing these men can do ; when they 
put up their rifles they can earn their daily bread. 
Of course, they are not perfect ; and we know of 



364 



THE SWITZERS. 



many things they cannot learn. Yon cannot teach 
them to forget their civic rights ; you 1 cannot 
teach them to adore a leader ; you cannot teach 
them to prefer their colonel to their country. In 
these twenty thousand men you would not find 
the making of one Caasar, though you might the 
making of a hundred William Tells/ 



THE END. 



9 



London : Strangeways and Walden, 2S Castle St. Leicester Sq. 



HURST AND BLACKETT'S 



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MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKE1TS 

LIST OF NEW WORKS. 



THE SWITZERS. By W. Hepworth Dixon. 

Author of " New America," " Free Russia," " Her Majesty's 
Tower," &c. 1 vol. demy 8vo. 15s. 

Contents :— Mountain Men; St G-othard; Peopling the Alps; The Fight for Life; 
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FRANCE AND GERMANY. By Archibald Forbes. One of the 
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the best records of the war. It is written in a vivid and picturesque style, and is 
replete with incidents of personal adventure and narratives of absorbing interest, 
at once true and remarkable." — United Service Mag. 

"This is a work of considerable historical and literary merit. The author is 
fortunate in being able to give his personal experiences of the principal episodes 
of the late war. Forbach, Sedan, Metz, Paris, all that is implied by the mention 
of these names we have a vivid account of in these volumes. The scenes described 
have been seized with the eye of an artist, and are presented to the reader as 
graphically as in a picture." — Echo. 



3 



13, Great Marlborough Street. 

MESSRS. HUE ST AND BLACKETT'S 
NEW WORKS— Continued. 



DIARY OF THE BESIEGED RESIDENT IN 

PARIS. Reprinted from " The Daily News." With several 
NEW LETTERS and PREFACE. Second Edition Revised. 1 vol. 
8vo. 15s. 

" The. missing Letters of the Besieged Eesident that now appear for the first 
time are in no way inferior to those that have had a first success in the columns 
of a contemporary, and should And it hard to say which we could spare." — Times. 

" 1 The Diary of a Besieged Eesident in Paris' will certainly form one of the most 
remarkable records of a momentous episode in history." — Spectator. 

" On the whole, the Besieged Resident must have had what the Americans call 
'a good time' in Paris. He led a life which, as reflected in his faithful pages, seem 
to have been full of interest. There is an entire absence of affectation in this 
writer which vastly commends him to us.*' — Pall Mall Gazette. 

"The Letters of the Besieged Eesident give a lively, minute, and, in the main, 
very accurate description of affairs in Paris during the four months of its isolation. 
Other kindred books will soon be published, but this volume is likely to be more 
valuable than any of the others, and we certainly cannot expect to find elsewhere 
so much fulness of detail or such vivid narration of events." — Examiner. 

" There is much in this volume of a permanent value, and we are glad to see it 
given to the world in a permanent shape." — Standard. 

FREE RUSSIA. By W. Hepworth Dixon, Third 

Edition 2 vols. 8vo, with Coloured Illustrations. 30s. 

" Mr. Dixon's book will be certain not only to interest but to please its readers 
and it deserves to do so. It contains a great deal that is worthy of attention, and 
is likely to produce a very useful effect The ignorance of the English people 
with respect to Eussia has long been so dense that we cannot avoid being grateful 
to a writer who has taken the trouble to make personal acquaintance with that 
seldom- visited land, and to bring before the eyes of his countrymen a picture of 
its scenery and its people, which is so novel and interesting that it can scarcely 
fail to arrest their attention." — Saturday Review. 

" Mr. Dixon has invented a good title for his volumes on Eussia. The chapter on 
Lomonosoff, the peasant poet, is one of the best in the book, and the chapter on 
Kief is equally good. He gives an interesting and highly picturesque account of 
the working of the jury system in a case which he himself saw tried. The de- 
scriptions of the peasant villages, and of the habits and manners of the peasantry, 
are very good; in fact, the descriptions are excellent throughout the work." — Times. 

"We claim for Mr. Dixon the merit of having treated his subject in a fresh and 
original manner. He has done his best to see with his own eyes the vast country 
which he describes, and he has visited some parts of the land with which few 
even among its natives are familiar, and he has had the advantage of being 
brought into personal contact with a number of those Eussians whose opinions 
are of most weight. The consequence is, that he has been able to lay before 
general readers such a picture of Eussia and the Eussian people as cannot fail to 
interest them." — Athenseum. 

IMPRESSIONS OF GREECE. By the Right 

Hon. Sir Thomas Wyse, K.C.B., Late British Minister at Athens. 

With an Introduction by Miss Wyse, and Letters from Greece to 

Friends at Home, by Dean Stanley. 8vo. 15s. 
"No book that we know gives so just and, at the same time, so enticing a view 
of Greece as she is and as she might be as 'Impressions of Greece.' The introduc- 
tion by Miss Wyse is an admirable paper. The chapters due to Dean Stanley are 
delightful.' - — Pall Mall Gazette. 

" It is pleasant to meet with a volume of such sterling and lasting interest, the 
joint authors having much valuable information to impart. Sir Thomas Wyse 
naturally enjoyed many opportunities of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the 
manners and customs, as well as the antiquities, of Greece ; and his niece is evi- 
dently possessed of a power of keen and lively observation, while Dean Stanley 
completes the volume with a series of graphic and intelligent letters, in that easy 
and pleasant style for which he is so well known." — Standard. 



4 



13, Great Marlborough Street. 



MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S 
NEW WORKS — Continued. 



VOLS. III. & JV. of HER MAJESTY'S TOWER. 

By W. HEPWORTH DIXON. DEDICATED BY EXPRESS 
PERMISSION TO THE QUEEN. Completing the Work. Third 
Edition. Demy 8vo. 30s. 

Contents :— A Favourite ; A Favourite's Friend ; The Countess of Suffolk ; To the 
Tower ; Lady Catherine Manners ; House of Villiers ; Revolution ; Fall of Lord 
Bacon ; A Spanish Match; Spaniolizing ; Henry De Vere ; The Matter of Hol- 
land ; Sea Affairs ; The Pirate War ; Port and Court ; A New Roman zo ; Move 
and Counter-move ; Pirate and Prison ; In the Marshalsea ; The Spanish Olive ; 
Prisons- Opened; A Parliament; Digby, Earl of Bristol; Turn of Fortune; Eliot 
Eloquent ; Felton's Knife ; An Assassin ; Nine Gentlemen in the Tower ; A 
King's Revenge ; Charles I. ; Pillars of State and Church ; End of Wentworth ; 
Laud's Last Troubles; The Lieutenant's House; A Political Romance; Phi- 
losophy at Bay ; Fate of an Idealist ; Britannia ; Killing not Murder; A Second 
Buckingham ; Roger, Earl of Castlemaine ; A Life of Plots ; The Two Penns ; 
A. Quaker's Cell ; Colonel Blood ; Crown Jewels , King and Colonel ; Rye House 
Plot ; Murder ; A Patriot ; The Good Old Cause ; James, Duke of Monmouth ; 
The Unjust Judge ; The Scottish Lords ; The Countess of Nithisdale ; Escaped; 
Cause of the Pretender ; Reformers and Reform , Reform Riots ; Sir Francis 
Burdett ; A Summons to the Tower ; Arthur Thistlewood ; A Cabinet Council ; 
Cato Street ; Pursuit ; Last Prisoners in the Tower. 



" Mr. Dixon's lively and accurate work" — Twines. 

" This book is thoroughly entertaining, well- written, and instructive." — Examiner. 

" These volumes will place Mr. Dixon permanently on the roll of English authors 
who have rendered their country a service, by his putting on record a truthful and 
brilliant account of that most popular and instructive relic of antiquity. ' Her 
Majesty's Tower;' the annals of which, as related in these volumes, are by turns 
exciting and amusing, while they never fail to interest. Our ancient stronghold 
could have had no better historian than Mr. Dixon." — Post. 

"By his merits of literary execution, his vivacious portraitures of historical 
figures, his masterly powers of narrative and description, and the force and grace- 
ful ease of his style, Mr. Dixon will keep his hold upon a multitude of readers." — 
Illustrated News. 

"These volumes are two galleries of richly painted portraits of the noblest 
men and most brilliant women, besides others commemorated by English 
history. The grand old Royal Keep, palace and prison by turns, is revivified in 
these volumes, which close the narrative, extending from the era of Sir John Eliot, 
who saw Raleigh die in Palace Yard, to that of Thistlewood, the last prisoner im- 
mured in the Tower. Few works are given to us, in these days, so abundant in 
originality and research as Mr. Dixon's." — Standard. 

"This intensely interesting work will become as popular as any book Mr. 
Dixon has written." — Messenger. 

" A work always eminently readable, often of fascinating interest." — Echo. 

" The most brilliant and fascinating of Mr. Dixon's literary achievements." — Sun. 

" Mr. Dixon has accomplished his task well. Few subjects of higher and more 
general interest than the Tower could have been found. Around the old pile 
clings all that is most romantic in our histoiy. To have made himself the trusted 
and accepted historian of the Tower is a task on which a writer of highest reputa- 
tion may well be proud. This Mr. Dixon has done. He has, moreover, adapted 
his work to all classes. To the historical student it presents the result of long 
and successful research in sources undiscovered till now ; to the artist it gives the 
most glowing picture yet, perhaps, produce i of the more exciting scenes of national 
history ; to the general reader it offers fact with all the graces of fiction. Mr. 
Dixon's book is admirable alike for the general view of history it presents, and for 
the beauty and value of its single pictures." — Sunday Times. 



5 



13, Great Marlborough Street. 

MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S 
NEW WORKS — Continued. 



VOL. I. OF HER MAJESTY'S TOWER. By W. 

HEPWORTH DIXON. DEDICATED BY EXPRESS PERMIS- 
SION TO THE QUEEN. Sixth Edition. Demy 8vo. 15s. 

Contents : — The Pile— Inner Ward and Outer Ward — The Wharf— River Rights — 
The White Tower — Charles of Orleans — Uncle Gloucester — Prison Rules — Beau- 
champ Tower — The good Lord Cobham — King and Cardinal — The Pilgrimage 
of Grace — Madge Cheyne — Heirs to the Crown — The Nine Days' Queen — De- 
throned — The Men of Kent — Courtney — No Cross no Crown — Cranmef, Lati- 
mer, Ridley — White Roses — Princess Margaret — Plot and Counterplot — Mon- 
sieur Charles— Bishop of Ross— Murder of Northumberland — Philip the Con- 
fessor — Mass in the Tower — Sir Walter Raleigh — The Arabella Plot— Raleigh's 
Walk—The Villain Waad— The Garden House— The Brick Tower. 



"From first to last this volume overflows with new information and original 
thought, with poetry and picture. In these fascinating pages Mr. Dixon dis- 
charges alternately the functions of the historian, and the historic biographer, with 
the insight, art, humour and accurate knowledge which never fail him when he 
undertakes to illumine the darksome reeesses of our national story." — Morning Post. 

"We earnestly recommend this remarkable volume to those in quest of amuse- 
ment and instruction, at once solid and refined. It is a most eloquent and graphic 
historical narrative, by a ripe scholar and an accomplished master of English dic- 
tion, and a valuable commentary on the social aspect of mediseval and Tudor civil- 
ization. In Mr. Dixon's pages are related some of the most moving records of 
human flesh and blood to which human ear could listen." — Daily Telegraph. 

" It is needless to say that Mr. Dixon clothes the gray stones of the old Tower 
with a new and more living interest than most of us have felt before. It is need- 
less to say that the stories are admirably told, for Mr. Dixon's style is full of vigour 
and liveliness, and he would make a far duller subject than this tale of tragic suf- 
fering and heroism into an interesting volume. This book is as fascinating as a good 
novel, yet it has all the truth of veritable history." — Daily News. 

"We can highly recommend Mr. Dixon's work. It will enhance his reputation. 
The whole is charmingly written, and there is a life, a spirit, and a reality about 
the sketches of the celebrated prisoners of the Tower, which give the work the 
interest of a romance. ' Her Majesty's Tower' is likely to become one of the most 
popular contributions to history." — Standard. 

FAIR FRANCE : Impressions of a Traveller. 

By the Author of "John Halifax, Gentleman," &c. 8vo. 15s. 

"A book of value and importance, and which is very agreeable reading. It is 
bright and spirited, and evinces as much as ever the acuteness of perception and 
the powers of observation of the writer." — Post. 

"A pleasant book, conceived in a large, kindly, and liberal spirit." — Daily News. 

"This volume will be found pleasan treading." — Athenaeum. 

"A good book on France is just now most welcome, and this is emphatically a 
good book. It is charmingly i*eadable." — Globe. 

" This is a truly fascinating volume. The book has nothing to do with the present 
crisis. It is La Belle France:— Paris, with its quiet churches and its gay carnival 
crowds, and the old provincial cities like Caen and Chartres— that is here described 
as it was before the black waves of invasion rolled over the land. There is much 
that is very beautiful and charming in these recollections." — Echo. 

" The authoress of this charming volume is well known to the public as a novel- 
ist, and however critical judgments may vary as to her artistic power, of her 
purity of tone and freedom from the vicious tendencies of modern fictitious lite- 
rature, there can |be no question. For our own part, we find her even more agree- 
able as a tourist than as a novelist. She looks at the world with unprejudiced eyes. 
But the truly pleasant traveller is the man or woman who starts with intent to 
enjoy the trip, who looks at the bright side of everything, and who, writing a book, 
writeB cheerily and gaily. This is precisely what we find in 'Fair France."— 
British Quarterly Review. 



6 



13, Great Marlborough Street. 



MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S 
NEW WORK S — Continued. 

VOL. II. OF HER MAJESTY'S TOWER. By 

W. HEPWORTH DIXON. DEDICATED BY EXPRESS PER- 
MISSION TO THE QUEEN. Sixth Edition. Demy 8vo. 15s. 

Contexts : — The Anglo-Spanish. Plot — Factions at Court — Lord Grey of "Wilton- 
Old English Catholics— The English Jesuits— White Webbs— The Priests' Plot 
— Wilton Court — Last of a Noble Line — Powder-Plot Room — Guy Fawkes — 
Origin of the Plot — Vinegar House— Conspiracy at Large — The Jesuit's Move — 
In London — November, 1605 — Hunted Down — In the Tower — Search for Gar- 
net — End of the English Jesuits — The Catholic Lords — Harry Percy — The 
Wizard Earl — A Real Arabella Plot — William Seymour — The Escape — Pursuit 
— Dead in the Tower — Lady Frances Howard — Robert Carr — Powder Poisoning. 



From the Times: — "All the civilized world — English, Continental, and Ame- 
rican — takes an interest in the Tower of London. The Tower is the stage 
upon which has been enacted some of the grandest dramas and saddest tragedies 
in our national annals. If, in imagination, we take our stand on those time-worn 
walls, and let century after century flit past us, we shall see in due succession the 
majority of the most famous men and lonely women of England in the olden time. 
We shall see them jesting, jousting, love-making, plotting, and then anon, per- 
haps, commending their souls to God in the presence of a hideous masked figure, 
bearing an axe in his hands. It is such pictures as these that Mr. Dixon, with 
considerable skill as an historical limner, has set before us in these volumes. Mr. 
Dixon dashes off the scenes of Tower history with great spirit His descriptions 
are given with such terseness and vigour that we should spoil them by any attempt 
at condensation. As favourable examples of his narrative powers we may call at- 
tention to the story of the beautiful but unpopular Elinor, Queen of Henry III., and 
the description of Anne Boleyn's first and second arrivals at the Tower. Then we 
have the story of the bold Bishop of Durham, who escapes by the aid of a cord 
hidden in a wine- jar; and the tale of Maud Fitzwalter, imprisoned and murdered 
by the caitiff John. Passing onwards, we meet Charles of Orleans, the poetic 
French Prince, captured at Agincourt, and detained for flve-and-twenty years a 
prisoner in the Tower. Next we encounter the baleful form of Richard of Gloucester, 
and are filled with indignation at the blackest of the black Tower deeds. As we 
draw nearer to modem times, we have the sorrowful story of the Nine Days' 
Queen, poor little Lady Jane Grey. The chapter entitled "No Cross, no Crown " 
is one of the most affectlDg in the book. A mature man can scarcely read it with- 
out feeling the tears ready to trickle from his eyes. No part of the first volume 
yields in interest to the chapters which are devoted to the story of Sir Walter 
Raleigh The greater part of the second volume is occupied with the story of the 
Gunpowder Plot. The narrative is extremely interesting, and will repay perusal. 
Another cause celebre possessed of a perennial interest, is the murder of Sir Thomas 
Overbury by Lord and Lady Somerset Mr. Dixon tells the tale skilfully. In con- 
clusion, we may congratulate the author on this, his latest work. Both volumes 
are decidedly attractive, and throw much light on our national history, but we 
think the palm of superior interest must be awarded to the second volume." 

From the Athex.eum: " The present volume is superior in sustained interest to 
that by which it was preceded. The whole details are so picturesquely narrated, 
that the reader is carried away by the narrative. The stories are told with such 
knowledge of new facts as to make them like hitherto unwritten chapters in our 
history." 

THE CITIES OF THE NATIONS FELL. By 

the Rev. John Cumjung, D.D., Author of " The Seventh Vial," &c. 
Second Edition. 1 vol. crown 8vo, 6s. 

Contexts : — Babylon — Egypt — Nineveh — Tyre and Sidon — Bashan — Jerusalem — 
Rome — The Seven Cities of Asia — Constantinople — Metz, Sedan, and Strasburg — 
Vienna — Munich — Madrid— Paris — Chicago — The City that never Falls — The City 
that comes down from Heaven— There shall be no more Tears— Elements of 
National Prosperity. 

"Dr. Cumming's book will be read by many with advantage."— Graphic. 



13, Great Marlborough Street. 



MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S 
NEW WORK S — Continued, 

ANNALS OF OXFORD. By J. C. Jeaffreson, 

B.A., Oxon. Author of " A Book About the Clergy," &c. Second 
Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. 30s. 

Contexts : — The Cross Keys ; King Alfred's Expulsion from Oxford; Chums and In- 
mates; Classical Schools and Benefactions ; Schools and Scholars; On Learn- 
ing and certain Incentives to it; Colleges and Halls; Structural Newness of 
Oxford; Arithmetic gone Mad; Keduction of the Estimates ; A Happy Family; 
Town and Gown ; Death to the Legate's Cook ; The Great Riot ; St. Scholastica ; 
King's College Chapel used as a Playhouse ; St. Mary's Church ; Ladies in Resi- 
dence ; Gownswomen of the 17th Century ; The Birch in the Bodleian ; Aularian 
Rigour; Royal Smiles : Tudor, Georgian, Elizabeth and Stuart ; Royal Pomps; 
Oxford in Arms; The Cavaliers in Oxford; Henrietta Maria's Triumph and 
Oxford's Capitulation; The Saints Triumphant; Cromwellian Oxford; Alma 
Mater in the Days of the Merry Monarch ; The Sheldonian Theatre ; Gardens 
and Walks; Oxford Jokes and Sausages; Terrse Filii; The Constitution Club ; 
Nicholas Amhurst ; Commemoration ; Oxford in the Future. 
"The pleasantest and most informing book about Oxford that has ever been 
written. Whilst these volumes will be eagerly perused by the sons of Alma Mater, 
they will be read with scarcely less interest by the general reader." — Post. 

" Those who turn to Mr. Jeaffreson's highly interesting work for solid informa- 
tion or for amusement, will not be disappointed. Rich in research and full of 
antiquarian interest, these volumes abound in keen humour and well-bred wit. 
A scholar-like fancy brightens every page. Mr. Jeaffreson is a very model of a 
cicerone ; full of information, full of knowledge. The work well deserves to be 
read, and merits a permanent niche in the library." — Hie Graphic. 

" Mr. Jeaffreson is, par excellence, a popular writer. He chooses what is pic- 
turesque and of general interest. * * No one can read these Annals of Oxford 
without feeling a very deep interest in their varied contents." — Athemeum. 

"These interesting volumes should be read not only by Oxonians, but by all 
students of English history.'' — John Bull. 

A BOOK ABOUT THE CLERGY. By J. C. 

Jeaffreson, B.A., Oxon, author of "A Book about Lawyers," "A 
Book about Doctors," &c. Second Edition. 2 vols 8vo. 80s. 

"This is a book of sterling excellence, in which all — laity as well as clergy — will 
find entertainment and instruction : a book to be bought and placed permanently 
in our libraries. It is written in a terse and lively style throughout, it is eminently 
fair and candid, and is full of interesting information on almost every topic that 
serves to illustrate the history of the English clergy" — Times. 

"Honest praise may be awarded to these volumes. Mr. Jeaffreson has collected 
a large amount of curious information, and a rich store of facts not readily to be 
found elsewhere. The book will please, and it deserves to please, those who like 
picturesque details and pleasant gossip." — Pall Mall Gazette. 

A HUNTER'S ADVENTURES IN THE GREAT 

WEST. By Parker Gillmore (" Ubique"). 1 vol. 8vo, with 
Illustrations. 15s. 
" A good volume of sports and spirited adventure. We have thoroughly enjoyed 
Mr. Gillmore's work. It would be difficult to speak in too high terms of his pluck, 
enterprise and energy " — Pall Mall Gazette. 

" An interesting, amusing, and instructive book" — Examiner. 
"A volume of exceeding interest, full of exciting and spiritedly told adventure." 
— Sunday Times. 

A CRUISE IN GREEK WATERS ; with a Hunting 

Excursion in Tunis. By Capt. Townshend, 2nd Life Guards. 

1 vol. 8vo, with Illustrations. 
" Capt. Townshend writes about the foreign lands he has visited with good hu- 
mjur and intelligence. His pictures of life in Algiers are vivid and truthful, and 
his narrative of boar-hunting in Tunis is especially worthy of notice." — Athensmm. 

8 



13, Great Marlborough Street. 



MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S 
NEW WORK S — Continued. 



A TRIP TO THE TROPICS, AND HOME 

THROUGH AMERICA. By the Marquis of Lorne. Second 
Edition. 1 vol. 8vo, with Illustrations. 
" The tone of Lord Lome's book is thoroughly healthy and vigorous, und his 
remarks upon men and things are well-reasoned and acute." — Times. 

SPIRITUAL WIVES. By W. Hepworth Dixon. 

Fourth Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. With Portrait of the Author. 30s. 
"Mr. Dixon has treated his subject in a philosophical spirit, and in his usual 
graphic manner. There is, to our thinking, more pernicious doctrine in one chap- 
ter of some of the sensational novels which find admirers in drawing-rooms and 
eulogists in the press than in the whole of Mr. Dixon's interesting work" — Examiner. 

TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST IN JAPAN 

AND MANCHURIA. By Arthur Adams, F.L.S., Staff-Surgeon 

R.N. 1 vol. 8vo, with Illustrations. 
An amusing volume. Mr. Adams has acquired a body of interesting informa- 
tion, which he has set forth in a lively and agreeable style. The book will be a 
favourite with naturalists, and is calculated to interest others as well." — Daily Newe. . 

THE SEVENTH VIAL; or, THE TIME OF 

TROUBLE BEGUN, as shown in THE GREAT WAR, THE 
DETHRONEMENT OF THE POPE, and other Collateral Events. 
By the Rev. John Cumming, D.D., &c. Thiid Edition. 1 vol. 6s. 

"Dr. Cumming is the popular exponent of a school of prophetic interpretation, 
and on this score has established a claim to attention. His book furnishes an 
instructive collection of the many strange portents of our day. Dr. Cumming takes 
his facts very fairly. He has a case, and the gravity of the subject must command 
the attention of readers." — Times. 

" A. deeply interesting work. We commend it to all who wish for able and honest 
assistance in understanding the signs of the times." — Record. 

WILD LIFE AMONG THE KOORDS. By 

Major F. Millingen, F.R.G.S. 8vo, with Illustrations. 
" A thoroughly interesting work, which we heartily recommend" — Examiner. 

MY HOLIDAY IN AUSTRIA. By Lizzie Selina 

Eden. 1 vol. post 8vo, with Illustrations. 
" A pleasantly-written volume." — Pall Mall Gazette. 

MEMOIRS OF QUEEN HORTENSE, MOTHER 

OF NAPOLEON III. Cheaper Edition, in 1 vol. 6s. 
H A biography of the beautiful and unhappy Queen, more satisfactory than any we 
have yet met with." — Daily News. 

THE LAD YE SHAKERLEY ; being the Record of 

the Life of a Good and Noble Woman. A Cheshire Story. By 
ONE of the HOUSE of EGERTON. Second Edition. 1 vol. 6s. 
" This charming novelette pleasantly reminds one of the well-known series of 
stories by the author of 'Mary Powell.' The characters bear the same impress of 
truthfulness, and the reader is made to feel equally at home among scenes sketched 
with a ready hand. The author writes gracefully, and has the faculty of placing 
before others the pictures her own imagination has called up." — Pall Mall Gazette. 

" The interest of the work is of a kind which is unique. Fiction has been made 
to illustrate history in a manner which is at once unobtrusive and powerful" — Post. 



9 



THE NEW AND POPULAR NOVELS, 

PUBLISHED BY HURST & BLACKETT. 



A WOMAN IN SPITE OF HERSELF. By J. 

O. Jeapfreson, author of " Live it Down," &c. 3 vols. 

A FIRST APPEARANCE. By Mrs. Evans Bell. 

3 vols. 

" The story is gracefully told, and will be read with pleasure." — Atlienceum. 

ASTON-ROYAL. By the Author of "St.Olave's," &c. 

3 vols. (In Feb.) 

BRUNA'S REVENGE. By the Author of "Caste," 

&c. 3 vols. 

WILFRID CUMBERMEDE. By George Mac 

Donald, LL.D., author of " Robert Falconer," &c. 3 vols. 

"'Wilfrid Cumbermede' is extremely original, clever, and interesting. Besides 
the faculty of drawing character, Mr. Mac Donald has a wonderful gift of word 
pain tin g. ' ' — A thenoeum. 

" 1 Wilfrid Cumbermede' is the best of Mr. Mac Donald's novels. It is a very 
good one, is most interesting and well told. Altogether, the book is worthy of ex- 
tremely high praise." — Echo. 

HANNAH. By the Author of "John Halifax." 2 V. 

" A powerful and well-written novel. The treatment of the subject is artistic 
and thoughtful, and the book will, no doubt, be read with interest by all who desire 
to be enlightened on one of the great social problems of the day." — Morning Post. 

" A powerful novel of social and domestic life. One of the most successful efforts 
of a successful novelist." — Daily News. 

" ' Hannah' is a book which every one will read with pleasure. It is in every 
way worthy of its predecessors. The characters are well drawn, the story inte- 
resting, and the morality as pure as the English." — Echo. 

" Each of the author's novels has, from the very first she published to the last 
one now before us, maintained a surprising amount of interest. ' Hannah' abounds 
in the expression of natural feeling, pathos, and the weaknesses of true humanity." 
— Messenger. 

MINE OWN FAMILIAR FRIEND. By the Hon. 

Mrs. Alfred Montgomery. 3 vols. 

" Mrs. Montgomery has broken new ground Her novel belongs to none of the 
schools. There is great force in the character of Adelaide Snowden, and many 
touches of true artistic discrimination adorn it. In her the interest centres and 
culminates. She is the novelty, the heart, the creation of the book." — Spectator. 

THE SYLVESTRES. By M. Betham-Edwards, 

author of " Kitty," " Doctor Jacob," &c. 3 vols. 

" A novel which possesses many real claims to consideration by virtue of its 

fresh and powerful style." — Athenaeum. " A very interesting novel. We hope 

it will have all the popularity it merits." — Examiner. " This is no ordinary 

novel. Written in animated style, it has much in it of tenderness and beauty, and 
its characters are admirably drawn. " — Observer. 

THE LADY OF LYNDON. By Lady Blake. 3 v. 

"An agreeable, well constructed story." — Post. "Lady Blake's new book 

may be cordially recommended." — John Bull. "It is a rare thing to find so 

agreeable and entertaining a novel as ' The Lady of Lyndon,' by Lady Blake, and 
we heartily commend it to the public." — Daily News. 



10 



THE NEW AND POPULAR NOVELS, 

PUBLISHED BY HURST & BLACKETT. 



SQUIRE ARDEN. By Mrs. Oliphant, author of 

" Chronicles of Carlingford," " Salem Chapel," &c. 3 vols. 

" Mrs. Oliphant's new book will not diminish her already established reputation. 
The plot is interesting and well managed the scene well laid, and the characters 
various and forcibly described" — Athenoeum. 

" Mrs. Oliphant has a place of her own among the best novelists of the day. She 
keeps up the reader's interest from the first page to the last. ' Squire Arden ' is 
very clever." — Examiner. 

LOYE AND VALOUR. By Tom Hood. 3 vols. 

" Mr. Hood has written a story which in many parts is not inferior to the pro- 
ductions of any living novelist. The characters are sketched with a masterly hand. 
4 Love and Valour ' is one of the best novels that has been published for a long 
time." — Morning Post. 

THE MORRICES ; or, the Doubtful Marriage. By 

G. T. Lowra, author of " Around the Kremlin." 3 vols. 

"The characters are mostly well drawn and consistent. Susan is charming. 

Harding and Mrs. Print are capital figures The story is told in a pleasant 

narrative style." — Athen&um "A clever and entertaining noveL" — Observer. 

MAGGIE'S SECRET. By Mary Charlotte 

Phtllpotts. 2 vols. 
"A book which every one should read. The tone is so good and pure, the tale 
so natural, the plot so masterly, and the interest so enthralling, that one cannot 
lay it aside." — John Bull. " A pleasant and interesting novel.'' — Morning Post. 

SUN AND SHADE. By the Author of "Ursula's 

Love Story." 3 vols. 
"An interesting story. It exhibits the merits of refined and easy language, 
natural delineation of the manners of social life, and insight into the feelings and 
motives of mankind" — Globe, 

MALV1NA. By H. Sutherland Edwards. 3 vols. 

" The story of 'Malvina' is very lightly and pleasantly written." — Times. "A 

charming story. It is wonderfully entertaining throughout" — Graphic. 

ARTISTE. By Maria M. Grant. 3 vols. 

" We owe a debt of thanks to the authoress of this interesting novel for present- 
ing us with so charming an ideal of womanhood as we find in the heroine, and 
producing a work which, as regards the story, the descriptions of character, and 
the number of original thoughts it contains, is so far above the average run of 
novels now in circulation as ' Artiste.' " — Pall Mall Gazette. 

RESTORED. By the Author of " Son and Heir." 3 v. 

" An exceptionally good novel, and will be widely read. It stirs the reader's 
deepest feelings ; its characters are new ; its plans and incidents original." — Post. 

JAMES GORDON'S WIFE. 3 vols. 

" This novel is conceived and executed in the purest spirit. The illustrations of 
society are cleverly and spiritedly done." — Post. "An interesting novel, plea- 
santly written, refined in tone, and easy in style." — Globe. 

MY LITTLE LADY. 3 vols. 

"There is a great deal of fascination about this book The author writes in a 
clear, unaffected style. She has a decided gift for depicting character ; while the 
descriptions of scenery scattered up and down the book convey a distinct pic- 
torial impression to the reader." — Times. 



11 



Wrttftx % €nptM ^atanaxje of Per gtajestn. 



Published annually, in One Vol, royal 8vo, with the Arms beautifully 
engraved, handsomely bound, with gilt edges, price 31s. Qd. 

LODGE'S PEERAGE 

AND BARONETAGE, 

CORRECTED BY THE NOBILITY. 



THE POET Y -FIRST EDITION FOE 1872 IS NOW EE AD Y. 



Lodge's Peerage and Baronetage is acknowledged to be the most 
complete, as well as the most elegant, work of the kind. As an esta- 
blished and authentic authority on all questions respecting the family- 
histories, honours, and connections of the titled aristocracy, no work has 
ever stood so high. It is published under the especial patronage of Her 
Majesty, and is annually corrected throughout, from the personal com- 
munications of the Nobility. It is the only work of its class in which, the 
type being kept constantly standing, every correction is made in its proper 
place to the date of publication, an advantage which gives it supremacy 
over all its competitors. Independently of its full and authentic informa- 
tion respecting the existing Peers and Baronets of the realm, the most 
sedulous attention is given in its pages to the collateral branches of the 
various noble families, and the names of many thousand individuals are 
introduced, which do not appear in other records of the titled classes. For 
its authority, correctness, and facility of arrangement, and the beauty of 
its typography and binding, the work is justly entitled to the place it 
occupies on the tables of Her Majesty and the Nobility. 



LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL CONTENTS. 



Historical View of the Peerage. 

Parliamentary Poll of the House of Lords. 

English, Scotch, and Irish Peers, in then- 
orders of Precedence. 

Alphabetical List of Peers of Great Britain 
and the United Kingdom, holding supe- 
rior rank in the Scotch or Irish Peerage. 

Alphabetical list of Scotch and Irish Peers, 
holding superior titles in the Peerage of 
Great Britain and the United Kingdom. 

A Collective list of Peers, in their order of 
Precedence. 

Table of Precedency among Men. 

Table of Precedency among Women. 

The Queen and the Eoyal Family. 

Peers of the Blood KoyaL 

The Peerage, alphabetically arranged. 

Families of such Extinct Peers as have left 
Widows or Issue. 

Alphabetical List of the Surnames of all the 
Peers. 



The Archbishops and Bishops of England, 

Ireland, and the Colonies. 
The Baronetage alphabetically arranged. 
Alphabetical List of Surnames assumed by 

members of Noble Families. 
Alphabetical List of the Second Titles of 

Peers, usually borne by their Eldest 

Sons. 

Alphabetical Index to the Daughters of 
Dukes, Marquises, and Earls, who, hav- 
ing married Commoners, retain the title 
of Lady before their own Christian and 
their Husband's Surnames. 

Alphabetical Index to the Daughters of 
Viscounts and Barons, who, having 
married Commoners, are styled Honour- 
able Mrs. ; and, in case of the husband 
being a Baronet or Knight, Honourable 
Lady. 

Mottoes alphabetically arranged and trans- 
lated. 



"A work which corrects all errors of former works. It is a most useful publication. 
"We are happy to bear testimony to the fact that scrupulous accuracy is a distinguish- 
ing feature of this book." — Times. 

"Lodge's Peerage must supersede all other works of the kind, for two reasons: first, it 
is on a better plan ; and secondly, it is better executed. We can safely pronounce it to be 
the readiest, the most useful, and exactest of modern works on the subject." — Spectator. 

"A work of great value. It is the most faithful record we possess of the aristo- 
cracy of the day." — Post. 

" The best existing, and, we believe, the best possible Peerage. It is the standard 
authority on the subject." — Standard. 

12 



HURST & BLACKETT'S STANDARD LIBRARY 

OF CHEAP EDITIONS OF 

POPULAR MODERN WORKS, 

ILLUSTRATED BY MILLAIS, HOLMAN HUNT, LEECH, BIRKET FOSTER, 
JOHN GILBERT, TENNIEL, SANDYS, E. HUGHES, &C. 

Each in a Single Volume, elegantly printed, bound, and illnstrated, price 5s. 



I.— SAM SLICK'S NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE. 

'•The first volume of Messrs. Hurst and Blackett's Standard Library of Cheap Editions 
forms a very good beginning to what will doubtless be a very successful uudertaking. 
' Nature and Human Nature' is one of the best of Sam Slick's witty and humorous 
productions, and is well entitled to the large circulation which it cannot fail to obtain 
in its present convenient and cheap shape. The volume combines with the great recom- 
mendations of a clear, bold type, and good paper, the lesser but attractive merits of 
being well illustrated and elegantly bound." — Post. 

II. — JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN. 

" This is a very good and a very interesting work. It is designed to trace the career 
from boyhood to age of a perfect man — a Christian gentleman; and it abounds in inci- 
dent both well and highly wrought. Throughout it is conceived in a high spirit, and 
written with great ability. This cheap and handsome new edition is worthy to pass 
freely from hand to hand as a gift book in many households." — Examiner. 

" The new and cheaper edition of this interesting work will doubtless meet with great 
success. John Halifax, the hero of this most beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and 
this his history is no ordinary book It is a full-length portrait of a true gentleman, one 
of nature's own nobility. It is also the history of a home, and a thoroughly English 
one. The work abounds in incident, and is full of graphic power and true pathos. It 
is a book that few will read without becoming wiser and. better." — Scotsman. 

III.— THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS. 

BY ELIOT WARBURTON. 

" Independent of its value as an original narrative, and its useful and interesting 
information, this work is remarkable for the colouring power and play of fancy with 
which its descriptions are enlivened. Among its greatest and must lasting charms is 
its reverent and serious spirit." — Quarterly Review. 

IV.— NATHALIE. By JULIA KAVANAGH. 

" ' Nathalie' is Miss Kavanagh's best imaginative effort. Its manner is gracious and 
attractive. Its matter is good. A sentiment, a tenderness, are commanded by her 
which are as individual as they are elegant." — Athenmum. 

V.— A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF "JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 

" A book of sound counsel. It is one of the most sensible works of its kind, well- 
written, true-hearted, and altogether practical. Whoever wishes to give advice to a 
young lady may thank the author for means of doing so."— Examiner. 

VI.— ADAM GRAEME. By MRS. OLIPHANT. 

" A story awakening genuine emotions of interest and delight by its admirable pic- 
tures of Scottish life and scenery. The author sets before us the essential attributes of 
Christian virtue, their deep and silent workings in the heart, and their beautiful mani- 
festations in life, with a delicacy, power, and truth which can hardly be surpassed. "-Post 

VII.— SAM SLICK'S WISE SAWS AND MODERN 
INSTANCES. 

"The reputation of this book will stand as long as that of Scott's or Bulwer's Novels. 
Its remarkable originality and happy descriptions of American life still continue the 
sub jectof universal admiration. The new edition forms a part of Messrs. Hurst and 
Blackett's Cheap Standard Library, which has included some of he very best specimens 
of light literature that ever have been written." — Messenger. 

13 



HURST & BLACKETTS STANDARD LIBRARY 

(continued.) 



VIII. — CARDINAL WISEMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS OF 
THE LAST FOUR POPES. 

" A picturesque book on Kome and its ecclesiastical sovereigns, by an eloquent Eoman 
Catholic. Cardinal Wiseman has treated a special subject with so much geniality, that 
his recollections will excite no ill-feeling in those who are most conscientiously opposed 
to every idea of human infallibility represented in Papal domination." — Athenaeum. 

IX.— A LIFE FOR A LIFE. 

BY THE AUTHOR OP " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 

"In 'A Life for a Life ' the author is fortunate in a good subject, and has produced a 
work of strong effect." — Athenaeum. 

X. — THE OLD COURT SUBURB. By LEIGH HUNT. 

" A delightful book, that will be welcome to all readers, and most welcome to those 
who have a love for the best kinds of reading." — Examiner. 

"A more agreeable and entertaining book has not been published since Boswell pro- 
duced his reminiscences of Johnson." — Observer. 

XI. — MARGARET AND HER BRIDESMAIDS. 

" We recommend all who are in search of a fascinating novel to read this work for 
themselves. They will find it well worth their while. There are a freshness and ori- 
ginality about it quite charming." — Athenxum. 

XII. — THE OLD JUDGE. By SAM SLICK. 

" The publications included in this Library have all been of good quality ; many give 
information while they entertain, and of that class the book before us is a specimen. 
The manner in which the Cheap Editions forming the series is produced, deserves 
especial mention. The paper and print are unexceptionable ; there is a steel engraving 
in each volume, and the outsides of them will satisfy the purchaser who likes to see 
books in handsome uniform." — Examiner. 

XIII. — DARIEN. By ELIOT WARBURTON. 

" This last production of the author of ' The Crescent and the Cross ' has the same 
elements of a very wide popularity. It will please its thousands." — Globe. 

XIV. — FAMILY ROMANCE ; OR, DOMESTIC ANNALS 
OF THE ARISTOCRACY. 

BY SIR BERNARD BURKE, ULSTER KING OF ARMS. 
" It were impossible to praise too highly this most interesting book. It ought to be 
found on every drawing-room table." — Standard. 

XV.— THE LAIRD OF NORLAW. By MRS. OLIPHANT. 

" The 'Laird of Norlaw' fully sustains the author's high reputation." — Sunday Times. 

XVI.— THE ENGLISHWOMAN IN ITALY. 

" We can praise Mrs. Gretton's book as interesting, unexaggerated, and full of oppor- 
tune instruction." — Times. 

XVLL— NOTHING NEW. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
" ' Nothing New ' displays all those superior merits which have made ' John Halifax ' 
one of the most popular works of the day." — Post. 

XVLTI. — FREER' S LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 

"Nothing can be more interesting than Miss Freers story of the hie of Jeanne 
D'Albret, and the narrative is as trustworthy as it is attractive." — Post. 

XIX.— THE VALLEY OF A HUNDRED FIRES. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF "MARGARET AND HER BRIDESMAIDS." 
" If asked to classify this work, w e should give it a place between ' John Halifax ' and 
' The Caxtons.' " — Standard. 

14 



HURST & BLACKETT'S STANDARD LIBRARY 

(continued.; 



XX. — THE ROMANCE OF THE FORUM. 

BY PETER BURKE, SERGEANT AT LAW. 
" A work of singular interest, which can never fail to charm. The present cheap and 
elegant edition includes the true story of the Colleen B&vm."— Illustrated News. 

XXI. — ADELE. By JULIA KAVANAGH. 

" ' Adele ' is the best work we have read by Miss Kavanagh ; it is a charming story, 
full of delicate character-painting." — Athenseum. 

XXII.— STUDIES FROM LIFE. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 

" These ' Studies from Life ' are remarkable for graphic power and observation. The 
book will not diminish the reputation of the accomplished author." — Saturday Review. 

XXIII. — GRANDMOTHER'S MONEY. 

"We commend 'Grandmother's Money' to readers in search of a good novel. The 
characters are true to human nature, the story is interesting." — Athenseum. 

XXIV. — A BOOK ABOUT DOCTORS. 

BY J. C. JEAFFRESON. 
" A delightful book" — Athenaeum. " A book to be read and re-read ; fit for the study 
as well as the drawing-room table and the circulating library." — Lancet. 

XXV. — NO CHURCH. 

" We advise all who have the opportunity to read this book." — Athenseum. 

XXVI.— MISTRESS AND MAID. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
" A good wholesome book, gracefully written, and as pleasant to read as it is instruc- 
tive." — Athenosum. " A charming tale charmingly told" — Standai'd. 

XXVIL— LOST AND SAVED. By HON. MRS. NORTON. 

" ' Lost and Saved ' will be read with eager interest. It is a vigorous novel." — Timet. 
"A novel of rare excellence. It is Mrs. Norton's best prose work" — Examiner. 

XXVIII.— LES MISERABLES. By VICTOR HUGO. 

AUTHORISED COPYRIGHT ENGLISH TRANSLATION. 
" The merits of ' Les Miserables ' do not merely consist in the conception of it as a 
whole ; it abounds, page after page, with details of unequalled beauty. In dealing with 
all the emotions, doubts, fears, which go to make up our common humanity, M. Victor 
Hugo has stamped upon every page the hall-mark of genius."— Quarterly Review. 

XXIX.— BARBARA'S HISTORY. 

BY AMELIA B. EDWARDS. 
" It i not often that we light upon a novel of so much merit and interest as 1 Barbara's 
History.' It is a work conspicuous for taste and literary culture. It is a very graceful 
and charming book, with a well-managed story, clearly-cut characters, and sentiments 
expressed with an exquisite elocution. It is a book which the world will like. This ia 
high praise of a work of art, and so we intend it." — Tunes. 

XXX.— LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARD IRVING. 

BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 

" A good book on a most interesting theme." — Times. 

" A truly interesting and most affecting memoir. Irving's Life ought to have a niche 
in every gallery of religious biography. There are few lives that will be fuller of in- 
struction, interest, and consolation." — Saturday Review. 

"Mrs. Oliphant's Life of Irving supplies a long-felt desideratum. It is copious 
earnest and eloquent." — Edinburgh Review. 



15 



HUEST & BLACKETTS STANDARD LIBRARY 

(CONTINUED.) 



XXXI. — ST. OLAVE'S. 

" This charming novel is the work of one who possesses a great talent for writing, as 
well as experience and knowledge of the world. ' St. Olave's ' is the work of an artist 
The whole book is worth reading.'' — Athenoeum, 

XXXII. — SAM SLICK'S AMERICAN HUMOUR. 

" Dip where you will into the lottery of fun, you are sure to draw out a prize." — Pott. 

XXXIII. — CHRISTIAN'S MISTAKE. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.'' 

"A more charming story, to our taste, has rarely been written. The writer has hit 
off a circle of varied characters all true to nature. Even if tried by the standard of 
the Archbishop of York, we should expect that even he would pronounce ' Christian's 
Mistake ' a novel without a fault.'' — Times. 

XXXIY. — ALEC FORBES OF HOWGLEN. 

BY GEORGE "MAC DONALD, LL.D. 
"No account of this story would give any idea of the profound interest that pervades 
the work from the first page to the last" — Athenaeum, 

XXXV.— AGNES. By MRS. OLIFHANT. 

" ' Agnes ' is a novel superior to any of Mrs. Oliphant's former works." — Athenoeum. 
" A story whose pathetic beauty will appeal irresistibly to all readers." — Post. 

XXXYI. — A NOBLE LIFE. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 

" This is one of those pleasant tales in which the author of ' John Halifax ' speaks 
out of a generous heart the purest truths of life." — Examiner. 

XXXVII. — NEW AMERICA. By HEFWORTH DIXON. 

" A very interesting book. Mr. Dixon has written thoughtfully and welL" — Times. 
Mr. Dixon's very entertaining and instructive work on New America,"' — Pall Mall Gaz. 
"We recommend every one who feels any interest in human nature to read Mr. 
Dixon's very interesting book" — Saturday Review. 

XXXVIII. — ROBERT FALCONER. 

BY GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D. 

" 'Eobert Falconer ' is a work brimful of life and humour and of the deepest human 
interest. It is a book to be returned to again and again for the deep and searching 
knowledge it evinces of human thoughts and feelings." — Athenoeum, 

XXXIX.— THE WOMAN'S KINGDOM. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF "JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 

" ' The Woman's Kingdom ' sustains the author's reputation as a writer of the 
purest and noblest kind of domestic stories. — Athenaeum. 

XL.— ANNALS OF AN EVENTFUL LIFE. 

BY GEORGE WEBBE DASENT, D.C.L. 
"A racy, well-written, and original novel. The interest never flags. The whole 
work sparkles with wit and humour." — Quarterly Review. 

XLL— DAVID ELGINBROD. 

BY GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D. 
" A novel which is the work of a man of true genius. It will attract the highest 
class of readers." — Times. 

XLII. — A BRAVE LADY. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 

" A very good novel ; a thoughtful, well-written book, showing a tender sympathy 
with human nature, and permeated by a pure and noble spirit." — Examiner. 



